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WOMEN IN BUSINESS Special report by Ged Henderson and Rob Kelly


Date: 28 April 2026 Time: 08.30-11.00


Venue: Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa


Join decision-makers implementing AI and automation, and those considering their next steps.


Hear from business leaders and specialist practitioners on what is working, what is challenging, and how organisations are adopting new technologies while managing risk.


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Brought to you by: MINDING THE GENDER GAP


When it comes to gender equality in Lancashire’s boardrooms worrying new statistics reveal there is much work to be done.


Just over 21 per cent of directors in the county’s 100 most profitable SMEs are women, the figures compiled for Lancashire Business View have revealed.


And when it comes to the county’s ‘Big 20’ businesses in terms of sales, our research shows that figure rises only marginally to 22.5 per cent.


The ‘Big 20’ in terms of profit fare slightly better, with female directors making just over 26 per cent of their directors.


Contrast those figures to the national picture, which reveal women now holding 43 per cent of boardroom roles across FTSE 350 companies, and that highlights even more the worrying gender gap in the county.


However, Lancashire Business View’s Hot 100 and Big 20 companies aren’t alone in having much work to do to bridge that gap.


At the current rate of change, AIM-listed businesses will not reach 40 per cent female representation figure until 2049. More than one- in-three of their boards still have no women at all.


In association with:


Against the backdrop of our research, Lancashire Business View’s annual ‘Women in Business’ report has posed the questions: ‘Why aren’t more women leading companies in the county and what can be done to change that?’


In a bid to get answers, we reached out to women across Lancashire working in all sectors and at all levels, inviting them to tell their individual stories and opinions.


The response was both amazing and eye- opening and we have shared some of those stories on these pages.


All of the replies we received will be put together in a special dossier we will be sending to the new Lancashire Combined County Authority’s Business Board and to Baroness Smith of Malvern, the government’s minister for women.


Babs said: “We all know historically and culturally, traditional gender roles and societal expectations have likely limited women’s participation in leadership positions within the region, creating persistent barriers to advancement.


“Women often face greater challenges in balancing professional responsibilities with family and caregiving duties which can impact their career progression. Likewise, a lack of dedicated diversity and inclusion initiatives within businesses may result in fewer targeted efforts to recruit, retain and promote women into leadership roles.


Women in Lancashire are not short of ambition or ability. What we need now is a system that sees classically feminine qualities as assets rather than complexities


Babs Murphy, chief executive of the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, believes the directorship numbers in Lancashire’s Hot 100 and Big 20 firms can’t necessarily be attributed to just one factor.


She points to a range of interconnected issues that at times affect the gender balance in the boardroom.


“Factors related to the pipeline of talent may play a role as fewer women progress into senior management and executive roles due to limited access to mentorship and career development opportunities.”


Babs says sector specific factors are also relevant. She points out that industries represented in the Hot 100 and Big 20, particularly those that are ‘male dominated’


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