Media Coverage

New probe ordered on women directors

 

Mervyn Davies, Labour’s former trade minister and the former chairman of Standard Chartered, is to lead a fresh independent inquiry into why so few women make it to board level at British companies.

 

Read the complete article here.

 

CWN was asked by Adfero, the largest on-line news agency, to comment on how challenging it has been for wonen in the financial services industry to find employment during the recession.

 

CWN President India Gary-Martin, said that although pressures on staff numbers may be easing, the challenges around attracting and retaining strong female talent to Financial Services is not. Read the President's quotes in the links below:

 

Chartered Management Institute - Women in financial services 'harder hit' by recession

 

Astbury Marsden - Is there a need for more investment banking jobs in London for women?

Integral Search & Selection - Will more tax jobs for women be created?

Read the letter from CWN member Kate Grussing and other prominent city women executives warning against gender stereotypes here.

 

And read the article in question here.

CWN Backs New Measures to Promote Board Diversity for Women

Today CWN President India Gary-Martin, welcomed the Financial Reporting Council's (FRC's) announcement that new measures must be introduced to put more women into boardrooms. The FRC, the governing body for corporate companies, says that it wants to 'explicitly' ensure hiring committees take gender and diversity into account.

Interviewed on BBC News London tonight, India Gary-Martin said: "We support the key points of the FRC's report. These measures to promote gender and diversity targets will help. But if senior women are to be given the same opportunities as senior men it is important that these measures are put into practice. Companies represent all shareholders, therefore it is right that there is equal gender representation on boards.

India added: "If we do not start to implement measures, we run the risk of being in the same place as we are now, in 100 years' time. It also important too that we ensure that all parties are represented in this dialogue so that we can assess all the issues and address the challenges."

FRC recommendations:

• To encourage boards to be well-balanced and avoid 'group think', boards should look at including the need to appoint members on merit, against objective criteria, and with due regard for the benefits of diversity, including gender diversity.
• That directors of the UK's biggest 350 listed companies should also stand for re-election every year, instead of at least every three years to increase accountability.
• Performance related pay should be aligned to the long-term interests of the company and its risk policy and systems.

The FRC's report can be found on: www.frc.org.uk/press/pub2282.html

 

CWN in its submission to the Treasury Select Committee Report 'Women in the City', October 2009, made some key recommendations to help begin to break down the organisational cultural barriers to promotion.

CWN's key points include:

• Interview panels for senior jobs to include both men and women.
• Improvement of mentoring programs for women to help them manage their careers.
• Employers should consider implementing policies providing for greater transparency and mandatory reporting of gender differences in recruiting, retention, promotion and compensation.
• Recruiters to look outside the 'traditional pool' when they are proposing candidates for senior positions; and offer a diverse slate of candidates rather than a select pool of people who are 'board-ready.'
• Women only account for 12% of FTSE 100 directors and 7% in FTSE 250 companies, while a quarter of FTSE 100 companies have no women on the board.
  
  
  

Congratulations to CWN member Jacey Graham, author of ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom’ who has just been interviewed on the Australian radio station ABC Radio talking about the lack of women on the boards of top companies and her work on preparing women for senior board positions.

 

Click on this link to hear Jacey’s interview.

City Women’s Network President, India Gary-Martin, who holds a senior role at RBS, took part in a discussion about the role of women working in the City of London and reaction to the Treasury Select Committee Report into women working in the City.

City Women’s Network President, India Gary-Martin, who holds a senior role at RBS, took part in a discussion on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme about the Treasury Select Committee Report into the role of women working in the City of London and reaction to the Select Committee Report. MPs on the Committee criticised the lack of women on boards of big City companies, suggesting that having more women in top jobs in banks and other financial services would help guard against a dangerous herd mentality. Interviewed by Today presenter James Naughtie, India Gary-Martin, pointed out that there is a lack of high-powered female role models in the City of London and there is also a problem of demand as boards do not seek out women candidates even though there are plenty of women on the executive committees of FTSE 250 companies who are well qualified to be on the boards of FTSE 100 companies.

 

Click on this link for the interview.

Sexism is still rife in the City (wine bars)

 

In an article which starts with sexist comments from a man in pinstripes in a City of London wine bar, Lucy Bannerman writes in The Times that 'The findings of a Treasury Select Committee report into sex discrimination in the City will give Germaine Greer little to smile about'.

 

The committee — made up of one woman and thirteen men — finds that representation has declined at senior levels, with women making up only 9 per cent on the boards of FTSE 100 banks in 2009, compared with 13 per cent in 2004. The proportion of female executive directors is even lower, at 1-2 per cent.

 

The City still has the largest disparity in pay — a staggering 60 per cent — while maternity leave or even the suggestion of flexible working hours still thwart the most committed of careers.

 

Like them or not, quotas may be the only way to achieve change, says India Gary-Martin, president of the City Women’s Network. She has 20 years’ experience in senior investment banker roles at Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and currently RBS.

 

“We need to get critical mass to get change,” she said. “When corporates recruit a new member for the board, they tend to go to the executive headhunters, who already have a select pool of people who are ‘board-ready’.” But talented women are not getting within toe-dipping distance to that pool, she adds. “This is not a supply issue. It’s a demand issue.”

 

Click on this link for the full article.

MPs urge City boards to close gender gap

 

MPs warn that the City of London will face growing calls for Norwegian-style positive discrimination in favour of women if it fails voluntarily to end the gender “glass ceiling” in financial services, writes Jim Pickard in the Financial Times report on the Treasury select committee about women working in the City of London. The report finds “disappointingly few” women on City boards and evidence of a “significant” pay gap that is wider than elsewhere in the business world.

 

“The pay gap exists at entry level,” said John McFall, chairman of the committee, which will monitor the situation during the next parliament. “I am sure it [the committee] will want to see evidence that this voluntary approach is yielding results. If it does not, then the pressure for compulsory measures is likely to grow.”

 

In Norway, where quotas were imposed by the government, the percentage of female board members has jumped from 6 per cent in 2002 to 44 per cent in 2008. The report found wider disparities between male and female pay and career prospects in the City than in many other sectors and many City companies did not seem to have been successful in introducing flexible working policies for senior staff – men or women.

 

Female directors in finance earned 18.6 per cent less than male directors – compared with a 16.6 per cent gap in the UK as a whole, according to figures from the Chartered Management Institute.

 

For “function heads”, however, there was a 10.6 per cent gap, far wider than the 1.1 per cent difference across industry. Junior female staff in the City were paid 18.8 per cent less than their male counterparts, compared with a 9.5 per cent gap nationally.

 

The report stopped short of endorsing Harriet Harman’s comment in August that Lehman Brothers would not have failed if it had been called Lehman Sisters.

 

India Gary-Martin, President of City Women’s Network, said fewer than 12 per cent of FTSE 100 board members were women. For banks the figure was lower, at 9 per cent, with some, such as Barclays, having no females around the board table.

 

“The headhunters are not offering enough women in the pool of candidates. Boards themselves are often not looking for a diverse range of candidates and don’t ask for women to be put forward,” said Ms Gary-Martin, who is a director at Royal Bank of Scotland. “Yet we know that women are ascending through the ranks and there are plenty who are qualified to serve on the boards of FTSE 100 companies.”

 

Click on this link for the full article.

City Women’s Network President India Gary Martin took part in a discussion on Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 about current career opportunities and the working environment for women in the City of London. Presenter Jenni Murray asked India if she had herself encountered sexist language in her career in the City.

 

Speaking as a senior banker and President of City Women’s Network, India said that in her 20 year career in the City she had herself sometimes come across unacceptable behaviour. “We all have.” But, she added: “I’m quite comfortable about telling people that I’m uncomfortable” she said. “It’s not about, for me, accepting other people’s views of what they think I should be. It’s about me saying actually this is who I am. These are my boundaries and I’ll let you know what those boundaries are.”

 

Former bond broker Venetia Thompson said that the City was not an easy environment to work in and that with reports in the media about women alleging sexism, there were very few positive female role models for women in the City. “We need more women like India to stand up and speak out, who are succeeding in the City.”

 

India added that one of the key issues at present for women in the City was role modelling. “However there are a number of senior women across the (banking) industry... Women who have blazed trails for others …..It’s about making sure that there are women that other women can look up to, who demonstrate how it should be done.”

 

Asked for advice to women thinking of going into banking, she said that in City Women’s Network there were ‘loads of successful women, strong women who’ve had wonderful careers, and I would say to women entering the industry seek out those women who can be role models for you.”

 

For the full discussion between India and Venetia Thompson click on the BBC Website link.

 

 

Two City Women’s Network members are featured in the Financial Times report on the Lord Mayor’s Appeal Women’s Dinner at the Mansion House.

 

‘The bastion of Mansion House was handed over to the women of the City mid week….’ The FT’s People Column reports. ‘Under the auspices of the Lord Mayor's Appeal, the weighty committee behind an event celebrating the success of women filled the banquet hall with feisty females.’ Those listed include CWN’s President, India Gary-Martin, Head of non-core disposals at RBS and CWN’s Board Secretary, Erica Gut, who is a Managing Director in the Global Tax Department at Merrill Lynch.

 

Click here to read the full report.

Companies need to do more to bring women to the boardroom

 

City Women’s Network President, India Gary-Martin is quoted extensively in a feature in the City AM newspaper by Timothy Barber about the lack of women in top boardrooms.

 

‘A report commissioned by the Government Equalities Office to coincide with International Women’s Day predicts that at the current rate of progress it could take six decades for women to gain equal representation on the boards of FTSE100 companies. This tallies with research published last November by the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield University School of Management, stating that there are currently just 12.2 per cent female directors on FTSE100 boards. It also said there had been a decline in the overall number of companies with women on boards, and that a quarter of FTSE companies had exclusively male boards.

 

However, at the next level down there are some encouraging signs. In the space of a year, the number of women sitting on the corporate boards and executive committees of FTSE-listed companies has risen from 1,877 in November 2008 to 2,281.

 

India Gary-Martin, the senior RBS banker whose appointment as president of the City Women’s Network (CWN) was also announced on Monday, says this explodes the myth that there are not enough female executives with the skills and experience to make it onto company boards.

 

“There are two myths surrounding the lack of women at board level,” she says. “One is that there is a supply issue, whereas in fact there are a lot of talented senior women in the pipeline. The other is that they can’t make it through because of their family commitments and work/life balance needs.” In fact, Gary-Martin says, most senior women have moved past the age when small children require a heavy time commitment, have well-organised childcare in place or else have decided not to have children. In other words, their full commitment to their work should not be in doubt.

 

Click on this link to read the article in full: www.cityam.com/city-focus/companies-need-do-more-bring-women-the-boardroom

India Gary-Martin, the new President Of City Women's Network and Head of non-core Disposals Programme at RBS, appeared on Bloomberg TV.  Watch the interview here.

The Times reported the appointment of India Gary-Martin, Head of non-core Disposals Programme at RBS, as the new President of City Women's Network. Read the article here.

City AM reported the appointment of India Gary-Martin, Head of non-core Disposals Programme at RBS, as the new President of City Women's Network. Read the article here.

Congratulations to CWN member Carol Alayne who recently appeared on BBC Radio Four Woman's Hour talking about the history of women's suits and tailoring. Carol runs her own company, Tailoring for Women, and she talked to Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray about the differences between tailoring for men and women, together with Lou Taylor, Professor of Dress and Textile Design at Brighton University.

 

In a letter published in the Financial Times, headed ‘No lack of supply’, Clare Dobie, the President of City Women’s Network writes:

"Sir, The latest Female FTSE report (November 19) shows that there are 2,281 women on the boards, executive committees and senior teams of all listed companies in the FTSE indices. This represents a substantial pipeline of women. It suggests that the continuing shortfall of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies is a problem not so much of supply as of demand."

Women ready to break into the boardroom

 

CWN member Julia Bond is quoted in The Times as one Britain’s 50 brightest and most promising women likely to get onto the boards of top companies. She attended an event held to enable top businesswomen to meet the chairmen of companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, BT, Pearson, J Sainsbury, Land Securities, ITV, DSG International, Balfour Beatty, 3i and Halfords.

Julia is formerly a managing director of Credit Suisse, the investment bank, where she worked for 22 years, and, The Times reported, she is a member of the Institute of Directors and of City Women’s Network.

The event, the Professional Boards Forum, was the second of its kind held this year and was hosted with the intention of bringing company chairmen together with the kind of women who would be ideal candidates for boardroom membership.

The concept was devised by Elin Hurvenes, a Norwegian entrepreneur, after Norway’s Government introduced legislation requiring that 40 per cent of the country’s corporate boards be female. Many of the companies struggled to hire enough women to begin with, until Ms Hurvenes set up the forum — giving female candidates a chance to prove themselves.

The forum has now been launched in Britain and is already showing signs of working. Dido Harding, the convenience store director but not a main board director at Sainsbury’s, was named last week as a non-executive director at British Land, the property company, after attending a previous forum.

Baroness Hogg, chairman of 3i, the private equity firm, and on of only three female chairmen in the FTSE 100, told The Times that the landscape was moving “steadily and slowly”, insisting that investors would need to instigate change where necessary. “I think there is a missing link in all this argument, which is the shareholders. At annual general meetings, one often sees a good, feisty woman shareholder who will stand up and say: ‘Why is there only one woman on the board?’ And, after a while, chairmen get the message.”

The FT People Diary reports on two of City Women’s Network’s leading members in starring roles on 14 October 2009.

“India Gary-Martin runs RBS’s asset protection scheme for global banking and markets, and was among those invited to Number 10 last night as part of the launch of the African-Caribbean Powerlist 2010. She is on the list, compiled by a consultancy, along with the likes of Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam, thanks to her roles at RBS, as well as her jobs in the technology areas at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

She also belongs to the City Women's Network, which had its boss Clare Dobie putting its case to John McFall's (Treasury Select) committee, at one point decrying the use of the term "old girls" in answer to a question about whether there was an "old girls' club" in the City.”

Clare Dobie, President of CWN, is quoted in a BBC website report on hearings by the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on pay and promotions for women in the City of London.

“Recruiters could do a number of things to help themselves and businesses," Clare Dobie, of the City Women's Network told the committee. "It's often said that supply is a problem but we think it's a demand problem."

She added that there are 1,800 women on the boards of FTSE 250 companies, all of whom are eligible for FTSE 100 companies.

Others quoted who gave evidence to the Committee, include investment banker, Ros Altman, Professor Charles Goodhart, and Dr Daniel Ferreira, both from the London School of Economics, and Kat Banyard, from the Fawcett Society.

L’Echo

CWN member Kate Grussing, who runs recruitment agency Sapphire Partners, was profiled in L’Echo magazine in France, on women working in the City of London.  She spoke about the importance for companies of retaining women after they have recruited them, of the different career paths women pursue, the valuable role of women’s networks, and especially City Women’s Network.  The article also follows Kate’s career path in relation to the choices available to women in the City today, and her impetus for starting Sapphire Partners.

City Women’s Network’s 30th Anniversary Dinner at the House of Lords on the evening of the 30th of April 09 was reported in the Court & Social section of the Daily Telegraph. Hosted by Baroness Goudie of Roundwood, speakers at the dinner included the Rt. Hon. the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE, Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE, Mrs Rosalind Gilmore CBE, and Mrs Joni Lysett Nelson, CEO of Sabatier Group and a founder member of City Women’s Network. Also present were Mrs Janet Gaymer, Commissioner for Public Appointments and Patron of City Women’s Network, Ms Clare Dobie, President of City Women’s Network, and Ms Roz Morris, Vice President.

BBC Radio 4 ran a series of 3 discussion programmes called ‘Call Yourself a Feminist’ chaired by historian, Bettany Hughes, and looking at feminism over the past 40 years. The second programme included Roz Morris, Vice President of City Women’s Network, talking about our 30 years as a network for senior women.

In the programme Roz looked back to the socially restrictive world of the City of London at the start of City Women’s Network in 1978 when our founder members could not book a table at restaurants in the City because only men could do this. She also praised the progress women have made in business and looked forward to the future, highlighting the continuing research showing the business case for women in management. This shows that companies with more women at the top consistently do better than all male or nearly all male managements.

Other speakers on the programme included feminist writers, Bea Campbell and Lynne Segal and diversity campaigner, Linda Bellos.

 

City AM

17 November 2008

City AM’s diary ‘The Capitalist’ reported on Cherie Blair’s speech to the City Women’s Network 30th anniversary gala dinner at Stationers’ Hall in the following terms:

“So much has changed in the past three decades, it seems hard to remember that [30 years ago] there was still a widespread view that women could not get to the top no matter how talented they were or how hard they worked,” Cherie told an audience of rapt City ladies. “One of the main legal textbooks I studied – and this was the 1972 not the 1872 edition – advised women against becoming barristers because a woman’s voice doesn’t carry as well as a man’s.

 

“This would now be a law suit let alone a legal textbook.”

Gender count

The latest depressing World Economic Forum report showing that the UK is sliding down the international gender equality rankings was quoted by Cherie Booth in her speech to the City Women’s Network 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Stationers’ Hall in the City of London. Financial Times People column editor Emiliya Mychasuk reports that Cherie Booth highlighted the figures “to underline the importance of City Women’s Network on its 30th anniversary.”

WEF figures show that, thanks to the pay gap, the UK has slipped from ninth two years ago to 13th in the world league table of equality at work, the report continues.

Describing Cherie Booth’s speech as ‘inspiring’ the audience of 150 women and ‘a few brave men’, the report continues by noting that she was “flanked by friend and prominent employment lawyer with whom she founded the European Women Lawyers Association, Janet Gaymer, now the Commissioner for Public Appointments.” Janet Gaymer is currently Patron of City Women’s Network.

 

Cherie Booth talks to City Women’s Network about barriers to women’s success at work

Female professionals working in the City of London are faced with too many barriers that prevent them from fulfilling their potential, according to Cherie Booth QC, the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was speaking at the City Women's Network 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Stationers' Hall in London last night,

On the day that the World Economic Forum revealed that the UK is slipping down world equality rankings, Matt Turner of Financial News Online reports that Cherie Booth told City Women’s Network: "There are plenty of barriers still in our way. Whether it is the boardroom or the courts, in business or the professions, women still fill only a fraction of the senior positions that our talent, hard work and experience deserve."

She added: "Thirty years, too, after the law made it illegal to pay women less than men, women still earn around 80% of men’s wages.

“It’s not only scandalously unfair. It’s also damaging our chances to overcome the great challenges facing our world. As I have said, the firms, the nations which succeed will be the ones which harness the talents of every one of us, no matter what our gender or background."

Her speech came on the same day as the World Economic Forum published its annual report on the gap in pay between men and women. It found a 4% drop in wage equality in the UK last year, which meant a drop in 20 places from 61st last year to 81st in its global rankings. The UK now sits below Uganda, Tajikistan and Brunei in the equal pay standings.

The report points out that ‘Booth’s speech chimed with findings from a Financial News survey last month that discovered more than half of 1,350 female respondents believed they still had to work harder than their male counterparts to be commended as much by their peers.’

In her speech Cherie Booth also urged managers at senior levels to help change the working culture, encourage flexible working hours, and bring more balance into employees’ lives.

She said: "It is still often at senior level that there is the greatest reluctance to believe jobs can be done any other way than full-time and in the office. In a globalised marketplace, this is a rather out-dated view. When business is increasingly a 24-hour global activity, we are all part-time workers."

 

 

City’s Pioneering women celebrate their 30-year bond

Thirty years ago a when City Women’s Network was founded, women were not allowed to eat at most restaurants in the City of London unless they were the guest of a man and the founders of City Women’s Network had to meet for lunch in corporate boardrooms and keep the network secret at first for fear of upsetting the male establishment, writes Heather Connon, in the Business section of The Observer.

Many of the founding group of business and professional women were American and their pioneering efforts resulted in the setting up of City Women’s Network which is now celebrating 30 years of successful networking for senior women.

Under the headline ‘City’s Pioneering women celebrate their 30-year bond’ the Observer feature quotes from several current and former City Women’s Network members and points out that many large organisations now have their own women’s networks. However Clare Dobie, the President of CWN asserts that CWN’s role is still very important. “Our members may also belong to their own company networks, but it can be helpful and stimulating to talk to people from outside. And you could want to say things that you would not necessarily want to discuss with your colleagues.”

The Financial Times - Weekend People

4 October 2008

The FT’s Weekend People points out that although ‘a couple of the hottest takeover situations in town are boiling under their watch’, two of the UK’s top businessmen, Lord Stevenson, Chairman of HBOS and Donald Brydon, Chairman of Taylor Nelson Sofres, both ‘did not dare to break their date with nearly 200 women’ at the City Women’s Network 30th Anniversary Breakfast at the Mansion House yesterday.

Discussing gender dynamics in the boardroom the two men were joined on CWN’s panel by Helen Alexander, Vice president of the CBI and a non–executive director of both Centrica and Rolls Royce, Andy Harrison, the CEO of easyJet, Janet Gaymer, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and headhunter Lady Bottomley.

Ms Alexander noted that that 'there was still a long way (for women) to go’ in terms of the top boards and she told a story about a gathering she had attended recently at which a FTSE 100 chief had said it was ‘impossible to do that kind of job without a good wife’.

She also added that it was ‘more fun’ if there were other women on a board, and although she had been told there was ‘a tipping point’ for increased women’s influence, she had not come across it yet.

City AM newspaper

6 October 2008

City AM’s diary The Capitalist covered the City Women’s Network Breakfast Panel Discussion at the Mansion House on Friday 3^rd October, describing Lord Stevenson, Chairman of HBOS, as ‘the picture of serenity and good humour’ despite his bank takeover issues.

‘Stevenson happily chatted away about the role of women in the boardroom to the CWN members gathered to hear the thoughts of the panel, which also included CBI vice president Helen Alexander, former Tory minister Baroness Virginia Bottomley, London Metal Exchange chairman Donald Brydon, easyJet chief executive Andrew Harrison and Janet Gaymer, the commissioner for public appointments.’ the Capitalist diarist, Victoria Bates reported.

The article continued: ‘Perhaps the strongest proof that Stevenson was looking to the future after the announcement of Lloyd’s plans to take over HBOS, though, was his chummy sparring with old friend Helen Alexander.

“I’m delighted to hear you’re a judo expert, Helen,” he teased, referring to Harrison’s claim that female aggression in the boardroom was akin to the martial art, adding: “She’s very good at throwing her weight, you know.”

Not that Alexander, herself the epitome of female boardroom success, couldn’t stand up for herself. “I was once discussing something with a FTSE chairman and he said to me, out of the blue: ‘Like all women, you’re interrupting me!’” she related in her short speech.’

Meanwhile Baroness Bottomley said that times were changing for younger women. “I know that my views are dated because I’ve got a wonderful daughter in her twenties who’s a City trader and, as for the idea that women are self effacing, meek and negative – well, forget it.”

BBC Woman's Hour asks the big question: If women were in charge would we have a credit crunch?

CWN member Kate Grussing (pictured), the MD of Sapphire Partners, took part in a discussion with Gillian Tett, Assistant Editor of the Financial Times, on the BBC Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour, on 19 September 2008. The topic under discussion was ‘If more women were in senior influential positions in the City, would the financial crisis of the past week have been less likely?’.

Kate discussed the different approaches men and women have to decision-making and risk. Women tend to be more aware of the consequences and less fixed on short-term gain. She argued that there is no chance the last week’s events would have been the same if more women were represented at a senior level in the organisations concerned.

Men and women have a different aversion to risk, she maintained, pointing out that the ‘male approach’ tends to be ‘winner takes all’, rather than focusing on the 25,000 jobs to be lost at Lehman. Women have different risk filters and are less driven by a one-day stock price or on short term profit opportunities. Kate cited the Cranfield research in support of her argument that companies with at least three women at senior board level outperform their rivals.

 

 

Two City Women’s Network members feature in a report in The Observer newspaper by business writer Heather Connon about research showing that almost half of women in senior positions in investment banking have no children.

The research by Ruth Sealy of the International Centre for Women Business Leaders at Cranfield School of Management, and a member of City Women’s Network, suggests there are fewer women in senior City roles than elsewhere in industry.

Commenting on the report, CWN member Herta von Stiegel, who has held senior positions at JP Morgan, Citibank and AIG Financial Products, said she believes the ‘macho’ culture of investment banking is unnecessary. ‘I have led some of the most complex deals in corporate finance, and I can tell you there is no need to push 24/7. If you are organised, then you can structure yourself better,‘ she commented.

Herta also describes the current working situation in the City of London as ‘created by men for men’ and says that women want to cater for diversity. ‘In my view that takes enlightened men and brave women’.  

 

Clare Dobie, President of City Women’s Network is quoted online in an article by Matt Turner of Financial News Online on the issues raised by Harriet Harman’s proposals for tackling the pay gap and pay inequality between men and women.

Headlined – Pay equality plans to fall short - the article points out that the new rules would enforce transparency by outlawing gagging clauses, which currently stop individuals from discussing their schedules or bonuses.

The article quotes John Cridland, Deputy Director-General of the CBI, as strongly critical of the Government’s proposals. He says: “Mandatory equal pay audits or mandatory disclosures of meaningless statistics should not be part of the Government’s plans. This would be no more than gesture politics.”

Clare Dobie, President of City Women’s Network, which is celebrating its 30th year as an influential network for professional women, says: “Pay audits may be useful in some cases. I will be interested to see the results.”

Two members of City Women’s Network featured in discussions and reports on Sky News about the issue of the low numbers of women on the boards of large companies. Diane Morris and Jacey Graham were both interviewed live on Sky News.

A report compiled by Sky reporter Laura Bundock highlighted that, according to the Cranfield School of Management, the numbers of women on FTSE 100 company boards is now at the lowest level for several years with only 11% of FTSE 100 board members being female. Nearly a quarter (24%) of FTSE 100 boards are still all male.

CWN’s Past President, Diane Morris, (pictured) was interviewed live by presenter Mark Longhurst about the book ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom – A Roadmap’ by Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham (also a CWN member).

Diane pointed out that City Women’s Network has an event on Boardroom Dynamics – Gender at the Top - in October and she also highlighted a pioneering cross-mentoring scheme involving one third of FTSE 100 chairman who are mentoring senior women in companies other than their own. She emphasised that there is ‘definite progress’ in the numbers of women on executive committees just below board level.

Asked about positive discrimination for women on boards, a system currently operating in Norway, she said: “I don’t think it’s the answer [for the UK]. It might actually depreciate the value of women. I think there is a strong case for saying that women should be there in their own right. “

Discussions of the issues raised continued throughout the day and both the book’s authors were interviewed. Peninah Thomson said in her interview that following her study of company boards worldwide that she believes  "Women have a positive, constructive and useful contribution to make and they are assets to boards.“

CWN member Jacey Graham was asked if women were ready to be on top boards and she replied that women are definitely ready to serve as board members of big companies. She also cited the FTSE 100 Cross mentoring scheme which she herself is working on. When she was asked if women can have it all - she replied: “Women who want it all, can have it all – with the right support.”

This was in contrast to Jill McDonald, Head of Marketing for McDonald’s UK, who was featured in Laura Bundock’s report. She stated:” I’m not sure you can have it all and be a great mother, a great wife, a great career person and a great friend, all at the same time.”

The reports on the topic also featured Karren Brady, CEO of Birmingham City Football Club and Clare Young, the runner–up in this year’s ‘The Apprentice’ TV series with Sir Alan Sugar.

"Network news
Baroness Wilcox, president of the National Federation of Consumer Groups and a non-executive director of Cadbury Schweppes, was on message last night when she told the City Women's Network annual dinner that 'networking works for men, why not for women too?' That's the whole reason for CWN's existence and the same argument it's been plugging since 1978. It does seem, however, rather old school...

Strutting their stuff
The City Women's Network dinner raised money for the 2005 Lord Mayor's Appeal, the proceeds of which Michael Savory is directing to the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association - Forces Help."

Letters, 21 April 2005

"Don't scorn this single-sex City network
Sir,
Mudlark should not snipe at the single-sex nature of City Women's Network. In the same edition ('Tough apprenticeship for women in business') you report on Sir Alan Sugar's search for his apprentice and state that women still hold fewer than 10 per cent of executive directorships in the FTSE 100 companies and almost one quarter of top UK listed companies still have no women on their boards.
There is clearly a need for City Women's Network and we have been successfully networking for 26 years, providing a hugely valuable resource for women facing the self-perpetuating status quo of the male-dominated top layer of British business life. This is supported by formal and informal male-run cabals, including old style gentlemen's clubs that young men now are still queueing up to join. Little wonder many women also prefer to network in a single-sex environment. And, no, we do not find we need to be 'vigorous and pushy' to succeed. Life is actually more pleasant when one is civilised to one's colleagues.
Diane Morris,
President,
City Women's Network"