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| Why do these high-flying City types think they are role models for real women? | Why do these high-flying City types think they are role models for real women? |
| (4 months later) | |
| Maybe because it has, undeniably, a ring to it, maybe because of its supposed potential as both weapon and insurance policy, Madeleine Albright’s catchphrase “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” refuses to go away. It’s still fine effectively to tell other women – given the strictly limited appeal of helping, at random, Katie Hopkins, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kate Hoey – “you’re damned”. | Maybe because it has, undeniably, a ring to it, maybe because of its supposed potential as both weapon and insurance policy, Madeleine Albright’s catchphrase “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” refuses to go away. It’s still fine effectively to tell other women – given the strictly limited appeal of helping, at random, Katie Hopkins, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kate Hoey – “you’re damned”. |
| Nor does it bother the new AllBright women’s collective, a British women’s club and business network, that the catchphrase that inspired their name was previously used by, among others, Starbucks (on its cups), Sarah Palin, and Taylor Swift. Which is not, however, to suggest that AllBright is unoriginal. Far from it. It may be the first women’s collective in history to select for a figurehead a man called Allan. Explaining this decision, AllBright’s founders, Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones, both successful businesswomen, emphasise the special attractions of Allan Leighton, formerly of Asda, “with his insight as a leader into the challenges of the corporate world and the lack of women in senior roles in business”. Looked at in that way, you have to wonder how long Emmeline Pankhurst delayed suffrage by not putting Lloyd George in charge of the Women’s Social and Political Union. | Nor does it bother the new AllBright women’s collective, a British women’s club and business network, that the catchphrase that inspired their name was previously used by, among others, Starbucks (on its cups), Sarah Palin, and Taylor Swift. Which is not, however, to suggest that AllBright is unoriginal. Far from it. It may be the first women’s collective in history to select for a figurehead a man called Allan. Explaining this decision, AllBright’s founders, Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones, both successful businesswomen, emphasise the special attractions of Allan Leighton, formerly of Asda, “with his insight as a leader into the challenges of the corporate world and the lack of women in senior roles in business”. Looked at in that way, you have to wonder how long Emmeline Pankhurst delayed suffrage by not putting Lloyd George in charge of the Women’s Social and Political Union. |
| Still, given the unavoidable contradiction between the arrival of Allan and ostensible concern, on the part of AllBright, about continued “barriers to progress”, even Madeleine Albright may want to reconsider an earlier gloss on her catchphrase, to the effect that women “have an obligation to help one another”. Seriously – all of them? Including women who enact, to this possibly unprecedented extent, the successful City-feminist’s mantra that equality will only come about if, as Wosskow explains, re Allan, “men like him [are] part of the solution”. Is there, in short, a special place in hell for women who don’t help Allan? | Still, given the unavoidable contradiction between the arrival of Allan and ostensible concern, on the part of AllBright, about continued “barriers to progress”, even Madeleine Albright may want to reconsider an earlier gloss on her catchphrase, to the effect that women “have an obligation to help one another”. Seriously – all of them? Including women who enact, to this possibly unprecedented extent, the successful City-feminist’s mantra that equality will only come about if, as Wosskow explains, re Allan, “men like him [are] part of the solution”. Is there, in short, a special place in hell for women who don’t help Allan? |
| The Allbright is a networking club for businesswomen – so why has it picked a male chair? | |
| Admittedly, AllBright’s hyper-tactful strategy, that of vivaciously wrapping misogyny around its little finger, has some existing exponents in business and finance, whose wider visibility, in traditionally feminist-averse contexts, may have made an Allan, at some point, inevitable. Some of our more compelling corporate feminists have even found themselves, like, earlier, Nicola Horlick, more recently Sheryl Sandberg, Dame Helena Morrissey (founder of the 30% Club) and rising star, Eileen Burbidge, promoted, arguably because of their peerlessly collaborative approach to sex equality, to the status of all-purpose female role models. City-based or not, less affluent women are invited to study the guidance, on any topic, of these high net worth working mothers with – this seems to be as critical to this niche career path as an aversion to mandatory quotas – enough children to be termed, by interviewers, “a brood”. | Admittedly, AllBright’s hyper-tactful strategy, that of vivaciously wrapping misogyny around its little finger, has some existing exponents in business and finance, whose wider visibility, in traditionally feminist-averse contexts, may have made an Allan, at some point, inevitable. Some of our more compelling corporate feminists have even found themselves, like, earlier, Nicola Horlick, more recently Sheryl Sandberg, Dame Helena Morrissey (founder of the 30% Club) and rising star, Eileen Burbidge, promoted, arguably because of their peerlessly collaborative approach to sex equality, to the status of all-purpose female role models. City-based or not, less affluent women are invited to study the guidance, on any topic, of these high net worth working mothers with – this seems to be as critical to this niche career path as an aversion to mandatory quotas – enough children to be termed, by interviewers, “a brood”. |
| What Horlick (author of Can You Have it All?) began with her six children, Morrissey has advanced with nine; a brood big enough to function, in her recent book, A Good Time to Be a Girl, as both opinion poll (“thoughts from the Morrissey children”) and inspirational resource. A daughter struggled, for instance, with physics, so switched – bear with – to Spanish. “She proved a natural,” Morrissey writes, “and ended up with an A* grade, at both GCSE and A-level.” Lesson (other than to Highgate Mums, to raise its game)? “By emulating men rather than ‘working’ our difference we might – ironically – miss our moment.” | What Horlick (author of Can You Have it All?) began with her six children, Morrissey has advanced with nine; a brood big enough to function, in her recent book, A Good Time to Be a Girl, as both opinion poll (“thoughts from the Morrissey children”) and inspirational resource. A daughter struggled, for instance, with physics, so switched – bear with – to Spanish. “She proved a natural,” Morrissey writes, “and ended up with an A* grade, at both GCSE and A-level.” Lesson (other than to Highgate Mums, to raise its game)? “By emulating men rather than ‘working’ our difference we might – ironically – miss our moment.” |
| It is reassuring, Morrissey points out, for the benefit of any woman whose biology ordains a similarly sized focus group, that “even if I was at home, there wouldn’t be enough parents to go round”. Another hint: “I only write out our family schedule board one day at a time.” Snap! | It is reassuring, Morrissey points out, for the benefit of any woman whose biology ordains a similarly sized focus group, that “even if I was at home, there wouldn’t be enough parents to go round”. Another hint: “I only write out our family schedule board one day at a time.” Snap! |
| Burbidge is quadruply qualified, as a venture capitalist, government adviser, brood manager (five, to date) and opponent of quotas, to dazzle on the lifestyle pages, particularly since she shared her struggle, aged 47, to have another child. Burbidge’s top life hacks, other than getting the “day nanny” to bring your baby into the office for breastfeeding? “Women in their 20s and 30s should take a month out and freeze their eggs,” she said. | Burbidge is quadruply qualified, as a venture capitalist, government adviser, brood manager (five, to date) and opponent of quotas, to dazzle on the lifestyle pages, particularly since she shared her struggle, aged 47, to have another child. Burbidge’s top life hacks, other than getting the “day nanny” to bring your baby into the office for breastfeeding? “Women in their 20s and 30s should take a month out and freeze their eggs,” she said. |
| Fortuitously, for any twenty- and thirtysomethings blessed with the holiday, and the £15,000 (given defrosting losses) for compliance, Burbidge’s advice coincided with a renewed reminder from health professionals that egg freezing is risky and comes, in any case, with a 10-year storage limit for eggs frozen “for social reasons”. Burbidge, of all people, can probably do the maths. | Fortuitously, for any twenty- and thirtysomethings blessed with the holiday, and the £15,000 (given defrosting losses) for compliance, Burbidge’s advice coincided with a renewed reminder from health professionals that egg freezing is risky and comes, in any case, with a 10-year storage limit for eggs frozen “for social reasons”. Burbidge, of all people, can probably do the maths. |
| It would be illuminating, obviously, to compare Burbidge’s fertility tips with those of a comparably unaware male venture capitalist, but for all the “real progress” towards equality that’s reported by Morrissey, leaders such as insightful Allan (author of Tough Calls) remain as unlikely to be asked if there’s ever a right time for a baby as they are to pay special tribute to their brilliant nanny and/or housekeeper. | It would be illuminating, obviously, to compare Burbidge’s fertility tips with those of a comparably unaware male venture capitalist, but for all the “real progress” towards equality that’s reported by Morrissey, leaders such as insightful Allan (author of Tough Calls) remain as unlikely to be asked if there’s ever a right time for a baby as they are to pay special tribute to their brilliant nanny and/or housekeeper. |
| While the absurdity of Burbidge on eggs, along with Morrissey on a spoiled pavlova (lesson: “I do and will fail”) and Wosskow’s various contributions (“daytime is always Jimmy Choo”) would not be apparent without the media that cast them as the acceptable – ie privileged, conventionally feminine, politically harmless – face of progress, the women’s collaboration only confirms the opposite: they embody the status quo. Burbidge’s tips come, for instance, from the same place as those offers of free egg freezing, by woke-looking organisations seeking a substitute for truly family-friendly policies. | While the absurdity of Burbidge on eggs, along with Morrissey on a spoiled pavlova (lesson: “I do and will fail”) and Wosskow’s various contributions (“daytime is always Jimmy Choo”) would not be apparent without the media that cast them as the acceptable – ie privileged, conventionally feminine, politically harmless – face of progress, the women’s collaboration only confirms the opposite: they embody the status quo. Burbidge’s tips come, for instance, from the same place as those offers of free egg freezing, by woke-looking organisations seeking a substitute for truly family-friendly policies. |
| Now with added Allan, AllBright resembles, similarly, the kind of shiny, modern women’s collective the City can really get behind. So maybe there is something in that name. How, if it isn’t explained by widespread female adoption of the real Albright’s strictures, has being instructed, by a series of City favourites, on the importance of not annoying men come to seem anything other than hilarious? | Now with added Allan, AllBright resembles, similarly, the kind of shiny, modern women’s collective the City can really get behind. So maybe there is something in that name. How, if it isn’t explained by widespread female adoption of the real Albright’s strictures, has being instructed, by a series of City favourites, on the importance of not annoying men come to seem anything other than hilarious? |
| • Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist | • Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist |
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