The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published new guidance, Appointments to Boards and Equality Law, which advises companies, search firms and recruitment agencies about the full use of positive measures available under the Equality Act 2010 to improve gender representation on boards. The guidance makes clear that using women-only shortlists in order to increase gender representation is unlawful. The Commission has also launched a Great Britain-wide inquiry into the recruitment and appointment practices of the top 350 listed companies at board level. The aim is to identify recruitment practices which make a difference and deliver open, fair and merit based appointments.    

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