UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – Women on boards February 2011: “At the current rate of change it will take over 70 years to achieve gender-balanced boardrooms in the UK…The low proportion of women holding directorships suggests British business is not using all of the skills and talents of the workforce effectively. Government is committed to seeing swift change in this area, and this Call for Evidence is seeking views from across the business world….Women now form 51% of the UK population and 46% of the economically active workforce; they are responsible for the bulk of consumer buying decisions and consistently outperform their male counterparts educationally. However, research from Cranfield University has highlighted a lack of female directors in Britain’s top businesses, with women making up only 12.2% of directors of the FTSE 100 companies in 2009. The FTSE 250 companies have an even lower proportion of female directors at 7.3%, and nearly half of them do not have any women in the boardroom.”