I have been going over some ideas to write a post on the issue of gender equality and then I watched this video from Amber “Nineteen Percent” which really spurred me on!
Whether or not you take issue with Beyonce's song, I think that Amber's over-arching point is a very real one; that many women in the west are lulled in to a false sense of victory where gender politics is concerned. Yes, we have made great strides over the last hundred years and are much better off than women in some other countries, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore the fact there is still a very real 17% pay gap in the UK.
Lord Davies' report “Women on Boards” recommends that FTSE 100 companies should be aiming to have 25% female boards by 2015. It seems shocking that women are currently so under represented and the report says that at current rates of change it will take 70 years for gender balance to be reached. In the third sector we are doing a little better with women making up 31% of top 100 charity boards, but in a sector where the majority of the work force are women this still isn't acceptable.
In the UK government only 22% of MPs are female. What is interesting is that of the 144 female MPs 81 of them are Labour; this constitutes 31% of all the Labour MPs currently in the house of commons. This is because Labour use women only short-lists to select some of their candidates. Whilst I feel that in an ideal world candidates would be selected on merit alone I think that this shows that in order to escalate change and cause a real shift in culture sometimes measures, such as women only short-lists, have to be put in place.
I wonder what measures charities could put in place to make their boards more representative. I often see that organisations are looking for certain skills sets to make their board more well rounded; should they be seeking more women to make their board more well rounded as well?
With shifting attitudes and more life-choices and opportunities for young women, Gen Y could be the first generation to really put gender inequality in the past. For the second parliament in a row the “baby” of the House of Commons is female. Pamela Nash and her predescesor Jo Swinson where both 25 when they were elected in 2010 and 2005 respectively. Maybe this is a sign that Gen Y women are rising up to take their rightful place on a par with men.
So maybe it's not so much a case of girls running the world, Beyonce, but girls believing they can run the world and being given the opportunities to do so. I guess that's not as catchy though...
