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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| From lack of women in boardrooms to #MeToo, I’m bored with male excuses | From lack of women in boardrooms to #MeToo, I’m bored with male excuses |
| (2 months later) | |
| The age of #MeToo has also become the age of the excuse. The two come together, naturally: “I didn’t know she was uncomfortable”; “she did come to my hotel room”; “that was the culture then”. | The age of #MeToo has also become the age of the excuse. The two come together, naturally: “I didn’t know she was uncomfortable”; “she did come to my hotel room”; “that was the culture then”. |
| We also saw it when the gender pay gap data came out, men (it is almost always men) in these companies first denied it existed altogether and then, faced with the numbers, merely offered shoddy excuses. | We also saw it when the gender pay gap data came out, men (it is almost always men) in these companies first denied it existed altogether and then, faced with the numbers, merely offered shoddy excuses. |
| Now the excuse-mongers are out in force again: this time they feature in the government’s report on the lack of women in boardrooms, with the reasons given by companies for the disparity labelled “pitiful and patronising” by the business minister Andrew Griffiths. Do these firms use the same staff members to provide their lame explanations, one wonders, or have other men been promoted for the task? | Now the excuse-mongers are out in force again: this time they feature in the government’s report on the lack of women in boardrooms, with the reasons given by companies for the disparity labelled “pitiful and patronising” by the business minister Andrew Griffiths. Do these firms use the same staff members to provide their lame explanations, one wonders, or have other men been promoted for the task? |
| The excuses from FTSE firms are particularly provocative. I feel sorry for the women working under these men | The excuses from FTSE firms are particularly provocative. I feel sorry for the women working under these men |
| Excuses given included such gems as: “Most women don’t want the hassle or pressure of sitting on a board”, and: “There aren’t that many women with the right credentials and depth of experience to sit on the board – the issues covered are extremely complex.” The people making these statements are no doubt oblivious to the prejudice that underpins them, and that this prejudice is the seed of the whole depressing problem. It’s draining, watching sexist statements being used as excuses for why such and such person or organisation isn’t sexist. “Women don’t want the pressure” is the business world’s version of: “Well, she was wearing a short skirt.” | Excuses given included such gems as: “Most women don’t want the hassle or pressure of sitting on a board”, and: “There aren’t that many women with the right credentials and depth of experience to sit on the board – the issues covered are extremely complex.” The people making these statements are no doubt oblivious to the prejudice that underpins them, and that this prejudice is the seed of the whole depressing problem. It’s draining, watching sexist statements being used as excuses for why such and such person or organisation isn’t sexist. “Women don’t want the pressure” is the business world’s version of: “Well, she was wearing a short skirt.” |
| I am tired of thinking about women in boardrooms, just as I am tired of thinking about the pay gap, and sexual harassment, and all the myriad other inequalities that come from living in a sexist society that mean we can’t just get on with our days in peace. There are feminists who deride such middle-class concerns as the proportion of women on boards, and, while I certainly agree that single mums and domestic violence and low pay all need more of our focus, I also wonder what kind of revolution so readily dismisses the fact that men overwhelmingly control most of the money in the world. My mother was a single parent, and both she and I have been carers, but I still feel it’s important for there to be more women at the top, too. | I am tired of thinking about women in boardrooms, just as I am tired of thinking about the pay gap, and sexual harassment, and all the myriad other inequalities that come from living in a sexist society that mean we can’t just get on with our days in peace. There are feminists who deride such middle-class concerns as the proportion of women on boards, and, while I certainly agree that single mums and domestic violence and low pay all need more of our focus, I also wonder what kind of revolution so readily dismisses the fact that men overwhelmingly control most of the money in the world. My mother was a single parent, and both she and I have been carers, but I still feel it’s important for there to be more women at the top, too. |
| All companies and some public sector bodies in Great Britain, except Northern Ireland, with more than 250 employees had to report their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office. All companies were due to report by 4 April 2018. | All companies and some public sector bodies in Great Britain, except Northern Ireland, with more than 250 employees had to report their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office. All companies were due to report by 4 April 2018. |
| The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women. The figure is expressed as a proportion of men’s earnings. According to the ONS, the gap between what UK male and female workers earn – based on median hourly earnings for all workers in 2017 – stood at 18.4%, up 18.2% from a year earlier. The mean gender pay gap is 17.4%. | The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women. The figure is expressed as a proportion of men’s earnings. According to the ONS, the gap between what UK male and female workers earn – based on median hourly earnings for all workers in 2017 – stood at 18.4%, up 18.2% from a year earlier. The mean gender pay gap is 17.4%. |
| Commonly known as the average, the mean is calculated by adding up the wages of all employees and dividing that figure by the number of employees. The mean gender pay gap is the difference between mean male pay and mean female pay. | Commonly known as the average, the mean is calculated by adding up the wages of all employees and dividing that figure by the number of employees. The mean gender pay gap is the difference between mean male pay and mean female pay. |
| The median gap is the difference between the employee in the middle of the range of male wages and the employee in the middle of the range of female wages. Typically the median is the more representative figure, because the mean can be skewed by a handful of highly paid employees. | The median gap is the difference between the employee in the middle of the range of male wages and the employee in the middle of the range of female wages. Typically the median is the more representative figure, because the mean can be skewed by a handful of highly paid employees. |
| This is the reality of the revolution, I suppose – it’s a slow, trundling war of attrition, with the same issues cropping up again and again. The excuses from FTSE firms are particularly provocative. I feel sorry for the women working under these men, busting their arses every single day, working long hours, trying to climb the ladder, while the men in charge of them simply say women can’t take the pressure, that the issues are too complicated for their little lady brains, that there are no good women left ... But we should be wary of focusing only on the out-and-out dinosaurs here. As Philip Hampton, who has challenged all FTSE 350 companies to make sure at least a third of their board members and leadership are women by 2020, said: “Leaders expressing warm words of support but actually doing very little to appoint women into top jobs – or quietly blocking progress – are really not much better.” | This is the reality of the revolution, I suppose – it’s a slow, trundling war of attrition, with the same issues cropping up again and again. The excuses from FTSE firms are particularly provocative. I feel sorry for the women working under these men, busting their arses every single day, working long hours, trying to climb the ladder, while the men in charge of them simply say women can’t take the pressure, that the issues are too complicated for their little lady brains, that there are no good women left ... But we should be wary of focusing only on the out-and-out dinosaurs here. As Philip Hampton, who has challenged all FTSE 350 companies to make sure at least a third of their board members and leadership are women by 2020, said: “Leaders expressing warm words of support but actually doing very little to appoint women into top jobs – or quietly blocking progress – are really not much better.” |
| Pressure is mounting, and companies that pay lip service to equality but where men mysteriously continue to appear in well-paid senior positions, are under the microscope now. A male-dominated board and management structure simply doesn’t have a place in the 21st century. And tiring though it might be, we must keep drawing attention to it. It’ll be a slow change, but it’s coming. | Pressure is mounting, and companies that pay lip service to equality but where men mysteriously continue to appear in well-paid senior positions, are under the microscope now. A male-dominated board and management structure simply doesn’t have a place in the 21st century. And tiring though it might be, we must keep drawing attention to it. It’ll be a slow change, but it’s coming. |
| • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist | • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist |
| Women in the boardroom | Women in the boardroom |
| First thoughts | First thoughts |
| FTSE | FTSE |
| #MeToo movement | |
| Women | Women |
| Feminism | Feminism |
| Gender pay gap | Gender pay gap |
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