Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Newspapers, has been named as the new chairwoman of Opportunity Now, which campaigns for sexual equality at work.
Ms McCall will take on the role in June and will chair her first board meeting on June 10.
"I am very pleased to be working with Opportunity Now, and I hope that in this role I can encourage businesses to put renewed focus on issues which affect the recruitment, retention and development of women, and in doing so make a positive contribution to UK plc," she said.
"There is a persistent pay gap of nearly 20% between the sexes and less than 10% of FTSE board positions are held by women. Employers need to consider how they unconsciously perpetuate this inequality and identify ways in which they can positively foster diversity."
Opportunity Now, part of Business in the Community, represents employers with a combined workforce of more than 4.2 million.
Ms McCall is chief executive of GNL, owner of the Guardian newspaper and MediaGuardian.co.uk website, and is also a non-executive director of Tesco.
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