RUTH SUNDERLAND: Man Up! Come on chaps

Can taking maternity depart actually, in 2024, be extra damaging to a lady’s profession than accusations of sexual misconduct can be for a person’s?

That was the view expressed by one feminine financier in a report by the Treasury Committee on Sexism within the City.

It might sound an outlandish assertion, given the excessive profile careers of ‘City Superwomen’ corresponding to Nicola Horlick and Helena Morrissey, who’ve had stellar careers and enormous broods of kids.

But, like the ladies giving proof to MPs on the committee, I consider misogyny, discrimination and unconscious bias in opposition to girls are deeply embedded in office tradition in monetary providers and elsewhere.

City superwomen do exist however they’re very a lot the exception and a few of them admit it’s a facade.

Making an announcement: Decent males should not the issue – they need to be a part of the answer

Morrissey, a mom of 9, has stated she regrets colluding within the fable that girls can have all of it, calling it a ‘pernicious phantasm’. Even with a supportive house-husband, a nanny and loads of cash, none of which can be found to most girls, she says she was angst-ridden and exhausted.

While City girls make Sisyphean efforts to maintain their job and household on the street, some sleazy males cavort and harass their manner merrily around the workplace.

For years, they’ve away with it. Recent well-publicised scandals could have made them extra circumspect, however fairly than ending the misconduct, the committee thinks perpetrators have turn into extra underhand. Bernard Looney, the previous boss of BP, was stripped of £32m of rewards for ‘critical misconduct’ when he misled his board over private relationships with colleagues.

Contrast that with hedge fund supervisor Crispin Odey, who has confronted variety of allegations about his behaviour in direction of girls over greater than a decade. Odey is reported to have reaped virtually £29million earlier than he was ejected from his hedge fund.

His ex-wife, Nichola Pease, who initially stood by him, was beforehand thought of one of many ‘City superwomen’ however the shine has pale on her once-glittering profession. She resigned from her job as chairman of fund supervisor Jupiter for ‘private causes’ in the summertime.

Several girls giving proof to the Treasury Committee testified that the tradition at their office is one the place males accused of sexual wrongdoing are protected and girls are frolicked to dry.

Sexism within the City is a really broad time period, operating the gamut from legal assault to unequal pay and promotion. On pay, the committee discovered girls are nonetheless coming off second finest. This, it urged, is as a result of rewards in monetary providers are topic to a excessive diploma of discretion and negotiation, coupled with a scarcity of transparency. In different phrases, it’s laborious for ladies even to seek out out if they’re underpaid, not to mention protest.

It does not appear to be coincidence that the investigation into Odey was led by a feminine journalist on the Financial Times, which has a feminine editor. This solely works, nevertheless, if highly effective girls use their platform – and most don’t. Amanda Blanc, boss of insurance coverage big Aviva is an honourable exception.

But the struggle in opposition to sexism shouldn’t be right down to girls alone. Men have for years been urged to assist their companions by taking up extra accountability at dwelling.

The Treasury report discovered some male workers who witnessed poisonous behaviour in direction of their feminine colleagues had been privately supportive, however hardly ever challenged it on the time. Decent males should not the issue. They must be a part of the answer.

So, as I’m in all probability not presupposed to say: Man Up.