Select Committee launches probe into sexist City culture
THE Treasury Select Committee plans to grill senior business figures over the treatment of women in the City as part of its ongoing investigation into the banking crisis, the government said yesterday.
The committee’s new inquiry will look at the proportion of women occupying senior positions in financial services, as well as probing pay inequalities, the prevalence of flexible working practices and the “sexist” culture of the City.
The announcement comes just days after 52-year-old lawyer Gill Switalski won a record £12m in damages when a tribunal upheld an earlier ruling that she suffered sexual discrimination and harassment at the hands of her former employer F&C Asset Management.
Committee chairman John McFall said: “At a time when pay and corporate governance are key issues in terms of re-drawing financial regulation, the committee feels it is important to highlight the issue of gender equality in the financial services industry. We hope our inquiry will provoke an important debate about the representation and treatment of women in the City.”
Oral evidence sessions for the inquiry are to begin after the parliamentary summer recess.