Women's Views on News |
- Lord Mayor will promote women in business
- Board diversity on the rise
- Review for pregnancy discrimination
| Lord Mayor will promote women in business Posted: 13 Nov 2013 07:50 AM PST
Fiona Woolf made this pledge after officially taking up her role as Lord Mayor of the City of London on 8 November. According to her CV, Woolf, a past President of the Law Society of England and Wales, has over 20 years experience in dealing with regulation, market design, implementation and major projects in the electricity industry. Most recently, she worked with the World Bank on regional transmission line projects to enable post-conflict countries, such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, to import electricity. Her CBE is 'for her contribution to the UK knowledge economy and invisible earnings'. She is the second woman to be appointed as Lord Mayor in the 800-odd years of the office’s existence. Woolf told the Huffington Post: "Being the second woman in the role is exciting for me – a lot of emphasis is put on the first woman in a position (a role that has been mine on several occasions), but being the second shows the normalisation of female leadership that has taken place in the 30 years since Mary Donaldson become the first female Lord Mayor in 1983." Woolf’s key theme for the year is ‘The Energy to Transform Lives’ and incorporates the debates and forums on Tomorrow’s City and Harnessing Talent: The Power of Diversity. She said: "I hope that throughout my mayoral year, I am able to raise the profile of women in business to better enable younger women to fulfil their ambitions and to aim high. One of the themes I’m going to be pushing heavily throughout my mayoralty is the importance of capturing the benefits of diversity and difference in the City’s talent pool." Woolf's charity appeal, 'The Energy to Transform Lives', aims to give the four chosen charities – Beating Bowel Cancer, Princess Alice Hospice, Raleigh International and Working Chance – a chance to reach new audiences. All four were selected on the basis of her experience of working on community-based projects that are scalable and can be replicated at low cost. Working Chance, is a London-based organisation set up to find jobs for female ex-offenders. Her mandate says: "This enables these women and their children to cross the social divide from exclusion to contribution. The Lord Mayor's Appeal aims to triple the number of women trained and supported into work, and to increase the number of City employers with whom the charity can work." The Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the head of the City of London Corporation, and the main role is to support City businesses and be an overseas ambassador, but there are also ceremonial responsibilities. Woolf will give more than 800 speeches and travel to around 22 countries during her year in office which began with the Lord Mayor’s parade on 9 November and the Prime Minister’s speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet on 14 November.  |
| Posted: 13 Nov 2013 04:07 AM PST
The number of women on boards is increasing in the FTSE 100 and, crucially, in the FTSE 250. FTSE 250 companies have generally lagged behind those in the FTSE 100 when it comes to board diversity as they are less well known and therefore face less pressure to change. Yet over the past 12 months, FTSE 250 companies have seen around 30 per cent of new appointments go to female directors, the benchmark figure for substantive change. Over the same period, FTSE 100 has reached 27 per cent of appointments. In 2011, a report prepared by Lord Davies of Abersoch found that women made up just 8.5 per cent of FTSE 250 company boards in the UK. Today the figure sits at 15 per cent, with only 51 FTSE 250 boards remaining all male. The Cranfield School of Management recently published a report saying that the 15 per cent figure is the highest since the organisation began monitoring board diversity in 1999. Professor Susan Vinnicombe, director of the Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders and co-author of the report said: "We are definitely seeing a cultural shift taking place within UK business. "We have seen progressive steps taken by many stakeholders to increase the level of female talent at the most senior levels of the UK's top companies and we are starting to see a shift in perceptions from chairmen and chief executives." Despite improvements, the Cranfield report found that while 82 per cent of their FTSE 250 sample recognise the need for greater boardroom diversity, only 18 per cent had a clear policy and just 14 per cent have set measurable targets. The report did, however, find that 24 per cent of these companies now include diversity in their evaluation processes. Monitoring and transparency are key for the continued progress of women in the boardroom. Maria Miller, Minister for Women and Equalities, said: "This new research shows that we've made unprecedented progress in increasing the number of women on boards following Lord Davies' report in 2011. "It is good to see the pace of change in the number of board appointments in the FTSE 250 have been higher than in the FTSE 100." She continued: "However, FTSE 250 firms need to ensure that they are producing and publishing policies on boardroom diversity. "I want firms to redouble their efforts on both fronts to ensure we are enabling women to fully contribute their talent." Lord Davies also commented on the Cranfield report. "There are real grounds for optimism in this report, not least the case studies and examples of good practice from companies across a range of sectors," he said. "They know that using all of the talent available to them, fostering the right mix of skills and backgrounds to provide different perspectives and customer insights, is not an optional extra. It is a compelling business need."  |
| Review for pregnancy discrimination Posted: 13 Nov 2013 01:09 AM PST
Charities that provide advice and support for women experiencing pregnancy and maternity discrimination have recorded a surge in calls to their helplines. Maternity Action says that it answers '2200 calls each year from women experiencing difficulties in the workplace.' Working Families Chief Executive Sarah Jackson said, 'Around one in ten of our callers raise pregnancy or maternity discrimination issues and there are signs that employer attitudes are worsening rather than improving. 'We believe that the calls to our helpline are just the tip of the iceberg.' Since 2007, there have been more than 9,000 pregnancy discrimination claims brought against UK employers. With the last set of comprehensive data and analysis of pregnancy and maternity discrimination dating from 2005, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has proposed a new research project into the scale of the current problem. EHRC's chief executive, Mark Hammond, said, 'We will look at existing research, gather new evidence and carry out our expert analysis to establish the extent of the problem and advise on how best it can to be addressed.' Maria Miller, Minister for Women and Equalities, announced the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's funding of EHRC's project, calling pregnancy and maternity discrimination 'unacceptable,' and saying 'I am determined that we tackle these systemic problems.' Responses to the announcement have been enthusiastic, yet tempered by concern about the role current government policy is playing in perpetuating discrimination. Gloria De Piero, Labour's shadow minister for women and equalities, while welcoming EHRC's announcement of the research project, called on the government to re-evaluate the £1,200 tribunal fee it introduced in July 2013. The fee costs 'the equivalent of nine weeks maternity pay, [making] challenging maternity discrimination unaffordable for new parents,' she said. Rosalind Bragg, director of Maternity Action, also questioned the government's dedication to reducing discrimination, saying, 'Cuts to advice services leave women without the specialist support they need to exercise their rights. 'We receive 15 calls for every [one] we answer and do not have funds to expand our service to meet this demand. 'We receive no Government funding for this work.' Campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez also expressed reservations, saying, 'I can't help but feel that we are ignoring the most obvious reason why women are discriminated against in this way – money.' She said that until equal parental leave is a reality, 'until men are seen as equally likely to take time off because of the child that they have brought into the world, discrimination will continue – it will affect women who don't intend to or can't have children, as much as those who do. 'If a company can't know either way, it is going to take the safer bet [of hiring a man].' The EHRC said in its announcement that 'key to tackling this issue' is an education and awareness-raising campaign, for both employers and employees, that will directly address pregnancy and maternity rights and obligations. It is hard to believe that pregnancy and maternity discrimination is still a problem, with Hammond calling the situation 'very concerning.' 'The principles of non-discrimination were established decades ago and should be accepted as an essential part of the business environment,' said Bragg.  |
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