Once upon a time, in the recent past:
• Women were not allowed to eat at most City restaurants unless they were the guest of a male member of the club
• City’s boardrooms and trading floors were similarly restrictive with women mainly confined to roles as secretaries and other supporting positions
• (a bit before this) Women were sacked if they got married or pregnant
It was at time like this that the City Women’s Network was set up, initially given the ironic title ‘The Little Ladies’. Apparently, they had to keep it a secret for fear of upsetting the men; some women could not safely receive mailings at home while others could not tell their husbands about the network. Seems unbelievable but it is true as pointed out in The Observer.
But that was then. Do we need such networks now? The article answers with a ‘yes’. But it does end by saying: “Ultimately, the aim of organisations such as the CWN must be to become redundant as gender ceases to be an issue in the workforce. It would seem that we are a long way from that if this article about the experience of Carly Fiorina is anything to go by. She would have probably been central to McCain’s government had he won the US election. She apparently had to attend meetings in strip clubs. But, who knows; maybe one day (the network) will just be a footnote in business history”.
The article articulated what I was thinking when I was getting ready to write an entry in relation to the comment in The Sunday Times about the black police association.
By some coincidence, Katie Melua just seems to be asking on my pc, 'can a black man be racist?'
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Submitted by karamat on Tue, 2008-11-11 17:11.