Liberal Democrats will recognise Helena Morrissey as the chair of the Independent Inquiry into the Party’s processes, set up in the wake of the allegations against Lord Rennard, which he denies.
I thought you might be interested in her interview on Woman’s Hour from last week. You can listen to it here on iPlayer from about 19 minutes in.
She was there to discuss her work as founder of the 30% Club, aimed at increasing the proportion of women on boards, and the proportion of women coming through in senior executive positions to fill the boards of the future.
She talked about her own experience of being passed over for promotion after the birth of her first child, when her commitment was openly questioned by her employer. Her response? To leave and find a more progressive employer. She said:
It’s an important thing for women (or anyone really) to realise when you can’t change something to move on.
I suspect she will have received many submissions from women who have done just that because they feel that the Party has allowed them to be passed over by not taking gender balance issues sufficiently seriously. She also benefited from joining a company where she’s now the CEO, where the culture suited her better. I can see how her perspective may be useful in achieving cultural change within the party.
She also said that she thinks that women hold themselves back by questioning “what might go wrong,” adding that men were better at just going for that big promotion and taking opportunities.
She also explains her total opposition to quotas and why she thinks they don’t work.
All in all, it’s an interesting chat.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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One Comment
When you’re living from payday to payday and sometimes not making it, and you haven’t got anything to fall back on, taking the chance on leaving a job is often not an option.