I’ve been delighted by the response to the blog I posted on the website of The Institute of Economic Affairs on 24 April:
http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/the-gender-diversity-delusion
The IEA has been pleased with the level of interest shown in the piece, and intrigued by the absence of evidence from commentators in support of the claim that ‘improved’ gender diversity in the boardroom can be expected to lead to improved corporate performance. I’ll be making a presentation at the IEA on 29 August, on the topic of gender diversity in the boardroom and in senior executive positions generally. Although the government recently indicated it’s dropping the threat of forcing companies to increase the number of women on their boards [note added 7 June: this now appears not to be the case – see the following: http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/we-need-to-talk-about-vince-cable/] it’s still committed to ‘encouraging’ companies to do so, and is spending taxpayers’ money in support of the effort.
The IEA is expecting some 40 attendees, mainly economists, and with their agreement I’m inviting leading business figures as well as a number of politicians, newspaper and magazine editors, business editors, other journalists, writers and academics.
