'More women needed in top roles' in Wales

Anne Jessop was appointed as chief executive officer of the Royal Mint in February 2018

Women made up less than a quarter of the board members at 20 of Wales' top-earning businesses last year, according to BBC Wales research.

Only 41 of all 184 board members at the firms were women, with about a third of them non-executives.

Five of the boards had no women at all.

Women's development charity Chwarae Teg said there had been "progress" but more women were needed in decision-making roles.

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Cerys Furlong, chief executive at Chwarae Teg, said the current imbalance in Wales was indicative of a "broader issue".

"We have a gender pay gap problem in the UK, it's 15% in Wales.

"Until women are occupying the influential, decision-making roles across all of our organisations then we won't see the changes that we want to see," she said.

BBC Wales News asked 20 firms frequently listed among those with the highest turnover in Wales about board members for the last financial year.

Top UK firms have previously been urged to appoint more women to senior posts, with a government-backed review saying last year the FTSE 100 were "on course" to meet a voluntary 33% target for women on boards by 2020.

But of the firms BBC Wales researched, Celsa, PHS, Calsonic Kensei, Wynnstay Group and Kronospan had no women on their boards in 2017/18.

Some of theses companies have said they are committed to better gender balance.

Sarah Hopkins first joined Wales and West Utilities as a graduate

At the Royal Mint, one of the few companies in Wales with a pay gap which favours women, Anne Jessop has been chief executive officer since February.

She said: "Sometimes it's the barriers about what you think you can do yourself. I think it's important to be confident and overcome those."

Ms Jessop believes that diversity on boards should go beyond gender, adding: "To me it's not just diversity in terms of whether you are male or female, but what skills do you have, what background do you have."

For people and engagement director of Wales and West Utilities Sarah Hopkins, holding a board position is not just an achievement for herself but for other women in the industry.

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Utilities companies in the UK have previously been criticised for poor gender balance on their boards.

She said: "When I got my job on the executive team here it was announced quite informally and I walked down to the office and a couple of girls said to me 'girl power!'.

"I was quite proud of that because it meant something to them as well as to me."

But one of the three women on Redrow's board, chief financial officer Barbara Richmond, was told being a woman was a "problem" by staff at universities.

Chief financial officer Barbara Richmond has worked across a number of financial industries

Ms Richmond told BBC Wales she used to tell staff at prospective universities that geology was her favourite subject at school.

But they told her that "you've got a bit of a problem here" as fieldwork was in places where "they don't like women".

She has since worked in finance across a number of industries and advises women who want to be on boards to "try to be focused on what it is you want to do".