Glass ceiling hasn’t been smashed yet
BRITAIN has slipped to 15th in the international league table for gender equality, it emerged yesterday, as a number of high-profile City women told City PM that they believed that glass ceiling still exists.
Britain has slid to 15th place, down from 9th in 2006 for gender equality, according to the World Economic Fund.
Top business women yesterday gathered for the Women in the City Awards to celebrate the achievements of senior and partner-level professionals working in the City, Canary Wharf and Mayfair.
But bubbling in the background was acknowledgement that women in some of the UK’s leading finance companies still receive around 80 per cent less in performance related pay than male colleagues, according to an inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Barclays Wealth head Barbara-Ann King said: “Women are still the minority in the industry. Events like this help support women to come up through the system.”
King added: “I think that for male employers it is the unknown that worries them – we are the minority and I think men are worried about employing a woman in a top role without having had experience of it in their career – it’s an education process. I think there is definitely still a glass ceiling for women.”
CBRE’s Charlotte Eddington said: “I think if you are able to prove yourself as capable you shouldn’t be different to anyone else, but I believe there are gaps about.” RSA Louise Rushmer said: “Women are getting more powerful in the work place – but we’re still not quite there.”