{"id":11389,"date":"2017-03-11T15:05:22","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T15:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/tesco-chairman-white-men-endangered-species-in-uk-boardrooms\/"},"modified":"2017-03-11T15:05:22","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T15:05:22","slug":"tesco-chairman-white-men-endangered-species-in-uk-boardrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/tesco-chairman-white-men-endangered-species-in-uk-boardrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesco chairman: White men ‘endangered species’ in UK boardrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JohnImage copyright Tesco\/PA
Image caption John Allan said he had hoped to encourage delegates with his "colourful turn of speech" <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

White men are becoming an "endangered species" in top business jobs as companies take on more women and ethnic minorities, Tesco's chairman has said.<\/p>\n

John Allan told a retail conference "the pendulum has swung very significantly" - even though white men still dominate in UK boardrooms.<\/p>\n

He said it was an "extremely propitious period" to be "female and from an ethnic background and preferably both". <\/p>\n

Mr Allan later said his comments were intended to be "humorous".<\/p>\n

In his speech, the day after International Women's Day, about the recruitment of prospective non-executive directors, Mr Allan said: "For a thousand years men have got most of these jobs, the pendulum has swung very significantly the other way now and will do for the foreseeable future I think.<\/p>\n

"If you are a white male - tough - you are an endangered species and you are going to have to work twice as hard."<\/p>\n

Mr Allan sits alongside eight other white men and three white women on Tesco's board. <\/p>\n

In a statement issued by Tesco to "clarify" his remarks to the Retail Week Live conference in London on Thursday, Mr Allan said: "The point I was seeking to make was that successful boards must be active in bringing together a diverse and representative set of people. <\/p>\n

"There is still much more to be done but now is a good time for women to put themselves forward for NED roles. <\/p>\n

"In all the organisations I have been involved in I have been a committed advocate of greater diversity and very much regret if my remarks have given the opposite impression."<\/p>\n

Earlier, speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Mr Allan said: "The context was [that] I was talking to a bunch of aspiring non-executive directors, many of whom were women, and I wanted to give them some encouragement and, therefore, I used that rather colourful turn of speech.<\/p>\n

"It was intended to be humorous, a bit hyperbolic. <\/p>\n

"Clearly, white men are not literally an endangered species but I was actually wanting to make the reverse point, which is that it is a great time for women and people of ethnic minorities who want to get on in business."<\/p>\n

A non-executive director sits on the board of a company but is not part of the executive team involved in day-to-day management. <\/p>\n

On Twitter, Labour's Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, posted a link to the Financial Times story on Mr Allan's speech, writing: "Says the man who chairs a board of eleven, eight of whom are white men.....!!! No words".<\/p>\n

Image copyright Twitter <\/figure>\n

But businesswoman Helena Morrissey, a campaigner for greater gender diversity in the boardroom, tweeted that media reports of Mr Allan's speech had put an "unfair spin on what he's trying to say - the job is obv not done but we're making progress".<\/p>\n

Image copyright Twitter <\/figure>\n

Ms Morrissey's government-backed initiative, the 30% club, launched in 2010 with the goal of boosting female representation on FTSE 100 boards.<\/p>\n

According to analysis by headhunters Egon Zehnder, women held 26.3% of board positions in the UK's largest companies in 2016 - but it said recruitment, at 29%, was at its lowest proportion since 2012.<\/p>\n

A report published in November said there was a disproportionately low level of diversity in the boardrooms of FTSE 100 companies. <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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