Category: Feminism

Women and the politics of getting things done

London 2012

Nicky Roche, formerly a big cheese at the Government Olympic Executive gave the after dinner speech at a networking event I went to the other week.  And jolly interesting she was on the nuts and bolts of putting together an event of such mind-boggling complexity as the 2012 Games.

It was clear listening to her that women played a huge role in delivering the Games, although that was far from clear if you were on the outside of the big  bubble.

“Women were in the second tier,  it was the men who were on the news” she said.  “Women were leading teams and doing it well but were not at the top table.”  And when they had opportunities to shine, like when they were in meetings with the Prime Minister, it was the men who took the spotlight.  “There was a lot of alpha male behaviour.  The men loved it.  I didn’t care.  I was doing a good job.  I knew I was doing a good job. I didn’t mind about the plaudits”.

In questions at the end she was asked how women could tackle limelight-hogging behaviour  by male colleagues.  She was surprisingly ambivalent about whether they should try.  “Men and women have different attitudes to being at the top” she said.  “Sometimes women just value different things”.  She commented that she knows women who have come close to the very top, especially in the Civil Service, but have realised that, for them, it’s not worth the sacrifices involved.

Ironically she then went on to tell some hair-raising stories about working for Margaret Thatcher – it was the day after the funeral and the Baroness was much on people’s minds.  Now there was a lady who had no problem with being at the top.

My younger self would have been appalled at this – I think my current self still is, a bit.  Of course women should be at the top table and if they’re doing the jobs then they should get the recognition (though I can think of more satisfying rewards than a pat on the head from the PM).  Partly I suspect that she’s right.  I too know bright, talented, experienced hard-working women, who are working below their capacity because leaping through the hoops of a permanently on-call senior job that takes them away from their families and other interests just isn’t worth the candle.  Maybe we just aren’t as driven to get to the top as men.  Maybe when push comes to shove we are less prepared to sacrifice family life than them.  Maybe they just don’t feel that they have the choice to hold back.  I know what Margaret Thatcher would say – but then I never really counted her as much of a role model.

Listening to women for a change

To set our scene.  It is yesterday morning.  The Today programme is on.  There’s a debate about Mehdi Hasan’s article about the political left’s position on abortion.  I disagree vehemently with everything he says*, but the thing that makes me curse out loud into the washing up is the opening exchange:

Suzanne Moore: I find myself, yet again, discussing abortion with two men on a programme which is famously bad at representing women, but…

John Humphrys (outraged, interrupting): Sarah was on yesterday! She happens not to be on this morning! But anyway, go on..

And (I hope) a nation of women yelled in harmony – “Because we’re  obviously only allowed one!”

There is, famously, only one female presenter on the BBC’s flagship radio news programme.  On days when she isn’t on you can go from the 7 o’clock news via the sports report at 7.30 to Thought for the Day at quarter to 8 and hear almost no female voices.

Monday’s Women in Journalism report on the representation of women in the media graphically demonstrated that the male-dominance of Today is not unusual – 78% of bylines on front page stories are for men, 22% for women; 76% of experts quoted in stories are men, 24% are women (almost an exact inversion of the statistics for victims, of whom 79% quoted are women, 21% men).

I went to a Fawcett Society debate at the weekend about the lack of women’s voices in the media, the City and politics. It wasn’t much of a debate, frankly. I guess it’s hard to have a thrilling exchange of views on a subject where everyone is in heated agreement. It’s ludicrous that only 4% of CEOs of FTSE 100 companies are women; that there are more millionaires in the cabinet than women; that there is only one woman editor of a national daily newspaper. And I for one am sick of it and of the glacial rate of change.   So, I was cheered to see that the BBC is trying, in a very small way, to do something about increasing the range of voices it listens to.

BBC Academy Female Experts Training Day

findaTVexpert is working with the BBC Academy on a media training day for female experts in Science, History, Politics, Business & Engineering. It’s a fantastic opportunity for female experts who want to put themselves forwards for TV & Media opportunities. Read the below, sign up now – and help spread the word on twitter, Facebook, etc.
Here’s a link.  If you have any expertise in an area the media should be covering please sign up and get on out there.   The Today programme needs to hear from you.
* For anyone interested in why I’m on the other side of the abortion debate from Mehdi Hasan, I refer you here – it pretty much says it all.

Falling out of love with The Thick of It

I worked for lots of women in my time in Whitehall.

The thing that all of them – Harriet Harman, Margaret Hodge, Barbara Follett, Ruth Kelly – had in common with the men I worked for, was their absolute, unshakeable faith that they had what it took to run the country. They may or may not have been right. Politicians have as many personal imperfections as everyone else on the planet. What’s funny about politics is this mismatch of  total self-belief with the reality of what they achieve. As Armando Iannucci said last week “although it’s a big job it’s actually little people“.

But politics is hard. Getting anywhere near to the top demands huge self-confidence. There are no shrinking violets in the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet.  Which is why the sight of Nicola Murray agonising about walking in a straight line while holding a poppy wreath on last night’s Thick of It made my teeth curl.

I appreciate that a former civil servant complaining about a political satire is like a hotelier arguing that Fawlty Towers didn’t capture the reality of working in the hospitality industry. Being true to life isn’t really the point. I also get that the best comedy comes from putting people into situations they are totally unfitted for – Basil Fawlty again. (And that sequence did give rise to a classic Thick of It-ism “She’s officially a Cenotwat” for which I  forgive them a bit)

But none of the women I ever worked for would have had a problem with walking and poppy-wielding at the same time.  Nor would they need to be told by their male comms advisor (even if he was the incomparable Malcolm Tucker) that they needed to toughen up their act. Nicola Murray shone like a schoolgirl who’d just been noticed by the coolest guy at the disco. Harriet Harman would have eaten him for breakfast then spat out the bits.

I accept there’s a limit to how many rampant megalomaniacs you can have in one TV programme – especially as this series of  TTOI is trying to reflect a coalition government as well as the opposition, so that’s three sets of dunderheads who need to be differentiated somehow.   I just wish it wasn’t the woman who’s the simpering nitwit while the blokes get on with their plotting.

And, finally: I do appreciate how bloody annoying it must be for every woman in a TV programme or film to be expected to represent one half of humanity everytime she opens her mouth on screen. But the rarity of showing women in positions of power makes them symbolise something bigger than themselves, like it or not – even in (especially in?) a comedy.

I really hope the worm turns in the rest of this series.  Not least because Rebecca Front has been one of my favourite comedy performers since we were at university together.  I thought, aged 18, that she was the funniest person I’d ever met.  I’ve followed her career with a proprietorial pride ever since, even though we lost touch years ago.  I still think she’s a genius.  I just think she deserves better.

What do women want?

The story that the government wants to woo back women voters was headline news last week, though probably not getting the kind of headlines they would have wanted.

The plans: shortening school holidays to make things easier for working women, banning advertising to under-16s and overhauling child benefit, made the classic assumption that women’s interests are limited to children’s issues.   The idea that family policy and women’s issues are the same (whereas men get to be interested in all kinds of things, even if they have children and families too) received short shrift from women, already anxious about the  impact of government policy on women’s lives .

Sadly the Labour Party hasn’t got past the women = children stage either.  Despite no longer being a member, I was invited to submit ideas to the party’s National Women’s Conference yesterday.  Under the headline What Women Want I was invited to propose “policies which will deliver for women” because: “Labour women have experience and expertise across a vast range of areas”.  So why have they asked us to think about:

  • How do we best support family life?
  • How do we create an NHS that works for all?
  • How can we best support women in work?

My rather snarky reply was for them to stop acting as though the only issues that women care about are family related and start thinking about issues which affect women whether they have kids or not (and are not family/health-related which affect men just as much as women and need to be pulled out of the “women’s issues” ghetto).

Strengthening  protection for victims of sexual and domestic violence was one area which sprang to mind – particularly as it is coming under attack on a number of different fronts at the moment.

Other areas in need of work are the gender pay gap and the unequal representation of women in senior jobs – this is slightly different to “supporting women at work” which I took to be a reference to the childcare/flexible working debate.

There’s lots of room for improvement.   Research out in August suggested female executives will have to wait until 2109 before their average salary catches up with their male peers’.  Last year the government abandoned compulsory pay audits which were an attempt to close the pay gap.    Sex and Power, a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned it will take  70 years  to achieve an equal number of women MPs, that the number of women in the Cabinet has fallen to its lowest level in a decade and that women are in short supply at the top of the media, business, the judiciary, the arts and education.

Get some of that lot sorted out and perhaps politicians will see that women are more than “just” mums – because more of them will look like us.

And now, something for the laydeez

I did some work last month researching gadget-review blogs and new technology sites for a company poised to bring a new product to market.  The world of the self-confessed geek and the gadget-obsessed is still overwhelmingly male,  but I did stumble across one blog, aimed squarely at the fairer sex, which boasted an array of stories designed to tempt us into the boys’ lair:
  • Pink moisture glasses keep your eyes refreshed
  • Versetta iPad handbag doubles as a workstation
  • Ultimate beauty iPhone app saves you time in Selfridges
  • Jawbone wristband tracks your diet, exercise and sleep
  • Burg 5 watch, even in pink, fails to tick right boxes
  • HTC set to release Glamour smartphone just for women
  • Microsoft reveals the Comfort Keyboard
  • iPad kangaroo pouch coming soon

I guess this either makes you laugh hysterically or it doesn’t.*

It reminded me of an old piece by Alan Coren about a new car aimed at the “typical female” customer  which failed because:

at 35mph the linkage connecting the hairdryer to the eye-level grill snapped, disconnected the telephone and threw the crib through the windscreen.  Upon applying the brakes the driver inadvertently set the instant heel-bar in motion and was riveted to the wardrobe by a row of tin tacks.

I suppose at least he had the excuse of writing in 1974, some time before feminism got into its stride (and of being a comic genius who rarely put a foot wrong).  Not sure what the bloggers’ excuse is.

* these are real stories from a real blog, which I’m not linking to because it doesn’t deserve the traffic

Is business really harder for women?

Feminist to my fingertips I may be, but I’ve never been one for all-women events.  So I should have known that going to Business Link’s Women in Business networking event probably wouldn’t end well.  But … I’m trying to launch a new project, and if there’s advice to be had or a potential market to tap, it seemed worth sampling.

Then I went.

Trampolining for success and Feng Shui-ing Congleton

“It’s so fantastic to be here with all you girlies.” trilled our keynote speaker.  She insisted that we”girls” weren’t entrepreneurs with a strategic vision for business  – “that’s the boring words”.  We were “dream catchers”, with a “team dream – to be MAD – Making A Difference” as we brought love and hugging to the world of business.  I remained seated as we were encouraged to stand and shout out our mantra:  “I am amazing!  I am incredible!  I am fantastic!”  Apparently it works best if you shout it to the universe first thing in the morning, while trampolining.  I spent an entertaining few minutes trying to imagine other successful women doing this – Margaret Thatcher?  Margaret Mountford from The Apprentice? –  but found it strangely difficult.

The kicker is, of course, that I was the one sitting sourly in the audience planning a dash for the drinks table.  She was the one on stage with £50million in the bank, advising Vince Cable on entrepreneurialism and living her dream of Feng Shui-ing Congleton (really).

The ditsy route to success?

This means one of a number of things: either kooky and wacky is the way ahead in business (I  doubt it); or women have come so far that however ditsy we are, we can still be taken seriously (debatable); or it’s an act to disguise the fundamentally unfeminine pursuit of managing things (I hope that’s not the case now, though it may have been 20 years ago); or it’s just patronising drivel. You’ll be unsurprised to know that that’s my preferred option.

Women as entrepreneurs vs women in the workplace

Ironically, the last place you should have to play the air-head is in your own business – your gaff, your rules.  The statistics on women starting up business suggest that women appreciate the freedom that self-employment offers and are making a success of  it.  The least they deserve is to be taken seriously and treated like adults – especially by other women.  I read one consultant recently recommending that a way to get women to think about business planning was to tell them that it was like preparing a shopping list – dear God …

There are, undoubtedly, big issues facing women in the workplace.  The statistics on equal pay and the gender imbalance at the top of  major corporations suggest that women are  still at a disadvantage in business.  And, of course,  there are barriers to  joining the ranks of the self-employed too.  I’m just struggling to think of many that are unique to women.

Are women’s businesses different?

These are the characteristics which were shared by the 50 fastest-growing women-owned business in the US last year:

  • A commitment to high growth — 71% agreed or strongly agreed that their goal from the very beginning of their leadership of the company was to build a large company
  • Inspiring leaders — 64% believe their “ability to motivate employees” is the most important characteristic for being a successful woman entrepreneur
  • Surrounding yourself with a skilled team – 78% say “Hiring the right people” was the most important action that contributed to their company’s growth
  • Adapting to a changing environment – The strategy most frequently chosen (64%) to meet the challenge of the current economy is to “enter new markets”. Sixty-one percent admitted current economic conditions caused them to change their business strategies

Those are the successful characteristics of businesses.  Not women’s businesses.  All businesses.

Having cast around for hints as to what the gender issues facing women entrepreneurs are, I found this which suggests our major problem is that we “care too much” And maybe we do.  I feel quite un-sisterly in criticising last night’s event. It was done with the best of intentions and may have helped hundreds of women.  But I’m nonetheless slightly baffled at the proliferation of organisations desperate to help us cope with the burden of being women in business.  Do we really need them? I’m genuinely interested to know.    The West Wing’s Ainsley Hayes would probably have a view. (If you’re short of time join her at 3.55′)

Getting Lippy about violence against women

I’ve been putting off blogging about Nazziwa’s story because I have no idea what to say about it.  Watch, but be warned it’s not a comfortable few minutes.  Nazziwa’s husband routinely beat and threatened her and has cut off both her hands – for which he has been sentenced to a mere 10 years in prison.

What can you possibly say that isn’t a platitude, apart perhaps from just howling with rage?

Nazziwa’s story is part of Action Aid’s Get Lippy campaign for International Women’s Day.  The campaign site carries many other women’s stories and gives a chance to send  messages of support to them – which will appear like this at their destination.  Please do. It feels important to let them know that they are not alone.

Getting Lippy about forced marriage

All of the short films in Action Aid’s Get Lippy campaign for International Women’s Day are well worth watching.  There are some fantastic and humbling stories about courage in the face of terrible injustice.  One story that really caught my attention, was Mina’s.  She was given away in marriage as the settlement for a family feud when she was 6.  She hasn’t seen her parents for more than a decade.

It is incomprehensible that any parent could do this to a child (though I’m extending my sympathy to Mina’s mother as well as Mina herself: I’m guessing she didn’t have much of a say in the transaction either).

Hers is, sadly, not a rare story in Afghanistan.  It’s not unknown here either – though you’d hope not for such very young girls.  I was horrified when I worked on the last government’s strategy for dealing with violence against women, to discover how many instances of forced marriage  take place in this country each year – the UK Foreign Office’s Forced Marriage Unit, dealt with 1,600+ cases in 2009.

Mina must be incredibly courageous to survive her experience and then have the guts to start campaigning for women’s rights in Afghanistan.  You can send her a message of support through the campaign site .  Spare a thought too for the women and girls from this country who are facing a similar fate.  Definitely something to get lippy about!

Because sometimes age beats youth…

There was a flurry of interest earlier this year in the CIPR survey which revealed that although PR is a largely female-dominated industry,  fewer women than men occupy really senior positions.  I’m getting interested in another nugget of information buried in the survey – the age profile of PRs with in-house roles compared to freelancers.

Apparently “by far the greatest percentage (50%) of in-house … members are aged between 25 and 34. Practitioners aged 45-60 significantly dominate the freelance sector, with 51% of freelancers within this age range.” 

That feels perfectly understandable.  PR is a discipline that suits freelancing brilliantly.  Armed with a laptop, a broadband connection and a mobile you can work when and where you want – a  boon for women juggling work and childcare.  I’m starting to think that there may be a more sinister element to this, though I could just be paranoid.

There have always been rumours that recruitment consultancies don’t take candidates in their 40s seriously.  My experience and that of friends and contemporaries certainly seems to  bear that out at the moment.  I apply for the occasional interim job to mix it up with the freelancing.  Rather than being proud of the 20+ years on my CV and the huge range of experience that I can offer an employer, I’m starting to wonder what I can cut so that I don’t end up on the she’s-older-than-God pile before I have  chance to talk to them.  Are there so many freelancers  over 40  because we can’t get anything more permanent?

Ironically, being 40+ should be an advantage these days.  As the population ages communicators need to reach a mature and media-savvy audience which won’t accept being patronised or pigeonholed.  I’m doing some work at the moment for a client who’s putting together a health campaign aimed at people over 55.  They have smart campaigning ideas, a track record in generating fantastic creative work and great technical expertise in delivery, but they’re planning a campaign that risks turning off a sizeable chunk of its target audience because they don’t understand it.

I fondly remember being  27, single and childless.   I had no possible idea what it might be like to be  middle-aged, coping with children, job and mortgage, occasionally waving at my similarly harassed husband as we pass on the stairs, one to make dinner, the other to pick up a child from cubs.   I certainly had no idea  how it might feel to face getting older.     Those are increasingly common experiences.  Understanding them should be a huge advantage.  One of my industry heroines, Jilly Forster , has been stressing this point for years.  I’m watching the progress of Forster’s AGEncy with interest –  and it already seems to be paying dividends for them.  Others please note!