I’m ready to lead the campaign, says Moya Green, as Vince Cable garners opposition to EU boardroom rules

Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene has become one of the most senior figures in corporate Britain to publicly back recruitment quotas for women in the workplace – including the boardroom.

Greene told an audience at the Communications Workers Union’s women’s section in Peterborough she was prepared to publicly champion quotas, despite many of her peers in business having lobbied furiously to block such a move from Brussels.

“There is something about the UK – for all its egalitarianism, women are not represented as they should be in society or companies,” Greene said. Despite modest moves in the right direction, expectations for women in the workplace were changing at a “glacial pace”.

She told the union delegates: “If you want quotas, I am open to leading that discussion.” Greene, a Canadian, said she had been struck by the lack of women generally at Royal Mail, but most particularly in leadership positions, during her two years as chief executive. At Canada Post, where she previously worked, Greene said women made up 43% of the workforce and 50% of the senior management team.

She noted that Royal Mail was far from an isolated example of a male-dominated British workforce. The postal group’s chief executive saidshe had encountered similar imbalances in management roles elsewhere in corporate Britain.

Greene’s remarks come as the business secretary, Vince Cable, has been leading the fight against attempts to introduce a 40% female quota on stock market-listed company boards across the European Union. With counterparts from nine countries, including Malta, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Estonia, he has written to European Commission president José Manuel Barroso registering opposition.

“We agree with the commission’s stance that there are still too few women on the boards of publicly listed companies,” said the letter. “[But] we reiterate that any targeted measures in this area should be devised and implemented at national level.”

Lord Davies of Abersoch was commissioned by UK government to look at ways to redress boardroom gender bias. His report last year did not recommend quotas, which he has repeatedly described as “a mistake”. He advocates a target of 25% female representation on FTSE 100 boards by 2015, relying on self-regulation to get there.

Ceri Goddard, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “Continuing with the current approach means excluding another generation of women from the top table of business. The time has come to take radical action.

“All the evidence shows positive action through the use of quotas is the only sure fire way to ensure more women reach the boardroom. Wishful thinking and encouraging words are not going to bring about the step change we urgently need.”

Greene told the women delegates that although the recruitment industry is overwhelmingly female, the lists they send for jobs are predominantly male. “I’ve sent back the lists and have told others to do the same – it’s almost a campaign.” She recalled having to do the same thing in her previous job. “At Canada Post I had to say we wouldn’t accept male, white lists.”

In response to questions, she conceded that more part-time work was required “for the flexibility that this company needs”. But she did not agree that the view that all women with children could do was part time work. Recalling her own experience as a single parent bringing up a daughter, she said: “We need to find ways to get women to work full-time with children.”

Greene said her enthusiasm for quotas stemmed from seeing what they achieved during her time working in the Canadian civil service. She recalled how, when starting out on her own career in the federal civil service of Canada, no woman taking a senior role could be married. “We made progress in the civil service when we had quotas. I am not personally against quotas at all. Unless you have quotas and live by them, you won’t see change in this company or the country.”