The question posed here is rather obtuse as the programme makes abundantly clear that gender is indeed an impediment to career progression. Perhaps a better question would have been whether respondents believe that gender SHOULD be an impediment and also ask their own gender so that the survey results could determine whether there is any variability between men and women's persectives on this very important issue?
Sadly, it is a reality that there is currently a glass ceiling which women are clearly unable to smash through, despite their best efforts to actively make themselves potentially attractive and worthy candidates - though it is encouraging to see the recent moves to redress this. I recall a recent interview where the many experiences I had acquired over my career and activities I have pursued were questioned alongside my role as a mother as making me so busy that it was "difficult to see how I would have time to commit to the job" applied for. The fact that this question came from the only woman on an otherwise male panel made me want to gag! But, more than that, it brought home a reality that motherhood and the various things I'd actively pursued (mostly in a voluntary basis) in order to make me more attractive for employment in my chosen field may have, in fact, worked in the oppposite direction and effectively dilluted my perceived commitment to securing paid employment and progressing my career! That was rather a soul destroying revelation.
Hilary's programme is thought-provoking and the fact that her participation in it has motivated her to find ways of making it possible for mothers to return to the workplace is to be commended. I understand her reluctance to support quotas to redress the gender balance in boardrooms. However, it does beg the question why, as one of very few female CEOs in the country, it took her so long to question her own business practices in being the only female (as the business owner!) on a male-only board of directors. I don't in any way intend that as a personal criticism of Hilary, but wonder whether this is symptomatic of the upper echelons of business to the extent that even women who have the power to make a determined difference to gender equality are reluctant to seize the opportunity to do so, perhaps because they accept that this is just the way things operate at that level and they don't want to rock the boat or be seen as pro-women?
What are people talking about?
What's this Comment Cloud?Be part of the conversation by telling us what you think - Comment on this page.