By pointing out that there are twice as many CEOs and chairmen of FTSE 100 companies called 'John' than the total number of women holding such positions, a leading UK investment expert has highlighted how far gender equality has to go in the UK.

As CEO of Newton Investment Management, chair of the Investment Association and founder of the 30% Club, Helena Morrissey is perfectly placed to comment on the place of women in the UK economy.

Over the last 12 months, tech giant Apple hired more than 11,000 new female employees around the world.

In the US, almost 50% of the company’s new workers in the first half of 2015 were women, Native American, black or Hispanic.

When it comes to the workplace, the battle of the sexes could have serious implications for businesses across the world according to the CEO of ACCA.

Helen Brand, OBE, the Chief Executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, raised the issue in her keynote speech opening the Women in Finance breakfast hosted in Kampala.

The government are set to force firms with over 250 employees to release details of their gender pay gap.

Large companies will have to publish details on the gender pay gap within their workforce, David Cameron has promised.

A new study reveals that female graduates could be earning 17% less than male counterparts. Why are women at a disadvantage in the work place?

The new data, crowdsourced from over 49,000 individuals, revealed a number of statistics illustrating the pay gap between the genders. 

CEO of Emolument.com, Thomas Drewry said: “The gender gap in salaries is a real issue in the UK today, and only by having a level of transparency will we start addressing the problem.”

Whitbread, owners of Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, appoint Alison Brittain as CEO.

Hospitality group Whitbread has announced plans to appoint Alison Brittain as chief executive officer (CEO) in a move that will make it the sixth FTSE-100 company to have a female at the helm.

Ms Brittain is the current boss of the retail side of Lloyds Banking Group, making her one of the most powerful women in the city. But despite having no previous hospitality experience, she was quoted to be the “perfect fit” for Whitbread’s culture and values by chairman Richard Baker.

With Google hiring former Wall Street executive Ruth Porat as its new CFO, the issue of gender equality in tech has come to the fore again.

Ms Porat will be the highest ranking woman at Google, helping to solve the issue of a male-dominated workforce.

Women make up less than a quarter of FTSE 100 directors. While the representation of women in the boardroom has increased slowly, how can more women be encouraged to reach for the top?

The Women and Work Commission recently found that if all women were able to perform to their full potential, they could contribute approximately £23 billion to the economy. Additionally, research conducted by McKinsey & Company found that companies with more women on their boards significantly outperform companies with no female representation.

Study finds business performance is linked to the number of women on the board.

The number of women on the board of a company can be correlated with business performance, according to a recent study. The report, Diversity Matters: Adding Colour to Boards in APAC, found that businesses with at least a tenth of board positions taken by women see, on average, a 3.6 per cent higher return on equity (ROE).

A list released by the Centre for Entrepreneurs has highlighted the UK’s fastest growing women-led companies.

The Centre for Entrepreneurs report states that Britain is “without a doubt” one of the world’s best countries for women in business. Their recent Fortuna 50 index aims to draw attention to the quality of British businesses that are run by women.

Plans to recruit one million women drivers by 2020 were recently announced by Uber.

The taxi app company, Uber, has revealed it plans to hire one million women drivers by 2020 in a collaborative effort with the United Nations (UN) sub group; UN Women. It would be a significant move towards gender equality and go a long way towards rectifying the negative publicity the firm has received during the last few months.

An organisation dedicated to advancing women in business is preparing to hold its annual technology awards ceremony in London later this month.

everywoman, a globally recognised organisation which drives the development of women across all business sectors, will be honouring women’s contributions to the technology sector at its FDM everywoman in Technology Awards.

The UK economy could greatly benefit by further encouraging women entrepreneurs, according to a report from Lorely Burt MP.

More jobs would be created and growth would be boosted if women entrepreneurs played a bigger role in the UK, according to the findings of an independent report from Lorely Burt MP, the government's ambassador for women in enterprise.

Women empowerment in business takes centre stage in Jamaica as UN study reveals 60% of all managers are women.

Jamaican women have made big advances in professions once dominated by men, according to a new UN study. In fact, the report notes the Jamaica has the world’s highest proportion of female bosses.

Over 80 young women were invited to take a ‘look behind the scenes’ at BAE Systems.

BAE Systems’ Military Air and Information (MAI) business gave a behind the scenes tour of its Warton facility for a number of young female students, in an attempt to raise interest the number of women looking to take up apprenticeships.

UK’s biggest companies are making progress for female representation in the boardroom.

The target for companies to have 25 per cent of board roles taken by women is now “in sight”, according to Vince Cable, the business secretary. Much progress has been made since 2010 and shows the UK’s “voluntary, business-led approach is working”, Mr Cable added.

ConnectChina aims to increase the number of women entrepreneurs doing business with their counterparts in China.

A collaboration between ConnectChina and Maiden Voyage will bring a women-only business team on a trade trip to China and Hong Kong this year. It’s a scheme that’s designed to open up the difficult market of China to more women entrepreneurs, showing that problems such as the large geographical distance, cultural differences and language barriers are not insurmountable.

Data shows women in Britain narrowed the gender pay gap to a record low, while female representation in the board room has increased.

Gender equality has come into the headlines recently in the UK. While women’s rights in Britain have a long history of being fought for, we can see that today complete equality has yet to be won in the boardroom or the office.

Many organisations are still fighting an uphill battle. However, times are changing and research shows conditions are improving, making it a good time to be a UK woman in the workplace.

Europe is still a world leader on tackling the gender pay gap, World Economic Forum figures show.

New figures from the World Economic Forum (WEF) show that in spite of slow progress globally, Europe is continuing to lead the world in terms of gender equality.

Progress on appointing more women to senior roles should be tied in to the way bonuses for City executives are awarded.

A government-commissioned review led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the chief executive of Virgin Money, is expected to make the recommendations.

Europe’s boards are slowly becoming more diverse, a new study shows – and the UK is gaining ground.

The UK has been taking steps to improve female representation on company boards for years. Although progress is slow – as it often is when businesses are expected to affect cultural and practical change – the proportion of women sitting on boards is steadily rising. As a new study shows, Britain is gaining ground against the rest of Europe as a result.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to get more women into work to boost the nation’s economy.

Japan’s working environment is known for many things, but flexibility and work-life balance are not among them. Punishing working hours and a culture of unpaid overtime have ensured that the country has a reputation for being tough on working parents.

Kingfisher will become one of just five companies in the FTSE 100 with a female chief executive when Véronique Laury takes the helm.

Recent moves to improve female representation in the business world have focused heavily on getting women into the boardroom. That’s where the targets are and that’s where the world is watching. In contrast, the top job of chief executive has received far less attention – but DIY retailer Kingfisher has bucked a trend today by appointing Véronique Laury as its new chief executive.

The UK IT industry is still suffering from a serious lack of female talent, a new report has found.

The high number of budding technology companies in the UK has made it a hotbed for IT expertise – but it is also suffering from a talent shortage in a number of crucial disciplines. Now a new report has indicated that increasing the representation of women in the industry is an important way of redressing the balance.

According to the Women in IT Scorecard from the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT, and e-skills UK, fewer than one in six of the UK’s 1,129,000 IT specialists are female. Interestingly, that figure actually rises slightly to 19 per cent in the devolved countries of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of more than 750,000 working specifically within the IT sector across the UK, the figure increases marginally to 20 per cent.

The Confederation of British Industry has called on the government to introduce a target for cutting the gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap has been the subject of fierce debate in the past few years, especially as wages have come under additional pressure as a result of the economic downturn.

Much has been written about how to reach a state where women’s average earnings are equal with those of men, and the latest contribution has come from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).