* Carroll exit leaves two female CEOs in FTSE 100
* EU pushing for quotas on female executives
* Women make up 3.2 percent of executives at EU-listed firms
By Natalie Huet
LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Mining giant Anglo American’s
outgoing chief executive Cynthia Carroll, only the third
woman to take the helm of a FTSE 100 company, warned on Friday
that calls for quotas to diversify Europe’s boardrooms could
reduce women to a token presence.
Carroll, 55, quit after more than five years at the top of
Anglo, one of the world’s largest mining groups, under increased
pressure from shareholders over underperforming shares and
unhappiness in some quarters over the company’s continued
dependence on troubled South Africa.
Her departure on Friday comes less than a month after
Marjorie Scardino, the first woman to lead a FTSE 100 company,
stepped down at publishing group Pearson.
With Carroll’s exit sometime in the new year, that will
leave only two female chief executives among Britain’s blue chip
companies – as the country resists a push from the European
Union for quotas to boost women in business.
“I think there is a need to have more women running
companies, but you can’t appoint women just to appoint women, to
satisfy a particular condition,” Carroll told reporters.
Continued…
