Equality between men and women in top jobs edging ever closer, say female bosses
THE number of women in key positions in occupations longdominated by men is increasing – but there is still a long way to go before the gender balance is right.
That was the message from the Institute of Directors West Midlands’ Women as Leaders group on International Women’s Day last week.
The meeting heard from four women who have succeeded in traditionally male-dominated industries – Dr Louise BrookeSmith (the first female Global President of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors), Melissa Wright (sports producer and presenter for ITV Central), Carol Stitchman (architect at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff ) and Karen Evans (civil engineer at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff ).
All reported there was movement in the right direction in their respective fields – though more progress was needed.
Dr Brooke-Smith was positive there was now important momentum towards achieving a gender balance of 50/50 in key areas.
She said: “The rate of change has increased in the last seven years. And most of all, in the last 18 months, it has really taken off.
“There is still a long way to go but I think that speed of change will continue and we will attain that 50/50 split.
“I was, and indeed still am, very proud to be the first female president of the RICS.
“There was a long lead-up to getting there and I felt there was some resistance to fully embrace diversity and inclusivity at the start of my journey.
“But by the time I became president, I was delighted that it was endorsed as one of my key platforms and indeed it had become flavour of the month for other professional sectors too.”
Karen Evans, joint-chair of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), in the Midlands and on the NAWIC National Committee, said that if more young women were to be attracted into engineering then education-providers had a big role to play.
“We have to persuade schools and universities to encourage young women to seriously consider engineering as a career option, so that they come out with the right qualifications,” she said.
“The percentage in business is improving but I still regularly attend meetings where I am the only woman in a room of 20 people.”
The meeting was held at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Birmingham office by the IoD Women as Leaders in partnership with the RICS and NAWIC.