Tuesday 18 May 2010

The Glass Ceiling


Women are still not seen as being as valuable as men in the workplace, according to one business expert. Toni Eastwood OBE, training director at everywoman (http://www.everywoman.com), said that in her experience, female professionals have to do more to be noticed and valued in the course of their employment.

"Women have to work extra hard, often with gritty determination to prove their worth, to attain top positions," she commented. "It is well-known that there are only 12 per cent of executive directors in the top 100 FTSE companies [who are women] and indeed, this is the case amongst many of the retail giants."

Ms Eastwood suggested that female under-representation at board level has been "a hot media topic" since the beginning of the recession, and continues to be a problem. "It's essential that women remain true to themselves, celebrating their feminine traits in their leadership and management roles, while remaining tough and passionate about what they do," she said. “Having diversity at senior and board levels has proved time and time again to reap bottom line business benefits".

In a study conducted by Friends Provident and the Future Foundation, a third of the British population accepted that wage equality will not be achieved by 2020.

APA believes passionately that gender equality has yet to be achieved in terms of reward and professional respect, not just legislation. Gareth Osborne will be meeting The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, Home Secretary and Minister for Woman, in coming weeks, to explain APA’s view.

APA

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