Waltham Forest and Lambeth are the only two London councils to have already signed up to Our Time – and both, incidentally, are led by women. Waltham Forest Council leader Clare Coghill said she hoped other organisations would take up the scheme.

“Supporting more women into senior roles will not only make our institutions and businesses more representative of London, but also improve the products and services they deliver,” she said.

Councillor Lib Peck, leader of Lambeth Council, described Our Time as “a great initiative to get more women in senior positions in public sector organisations across London”.

Khan, who earlier this year launched the #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign to celebrate women’s contributions to London, described the initiative as a form of “succession planning”: a way of ensuring that women are ready to take on senior leadership roles when positions become available.

“If you were managing a football team and you had a really talented new player coming on the scene, it would be madness not to manage that talent so they can play for your team in future,” he said.

“Similarly, businesses have talent, and if they’ve got any sense they should be managing that talent properly.”

Stylist’s Visible Women campaign is dedicated to celebrating women’s success and empowering future generations to follow their lead. See more from Visible Women here.

This landmark new scheme will increase the number of women leaders in London