Leaving Europe will be good for women, says City supermum
A SHAKE-UP in the finance industry after Brexit could open up opportunities for women in business, according to City superwoman Dame Helena Morrissey.
The mother-of-nine, who is head of personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management, said: ‘My first-hand dealings with the EU – whether it’s on financial regulation or women on boards – was sort of the opposite of progressive.
‘It was very much one size fits all, command and control, quite remote.’ Dame Helena, who describes herself as a ‘progressive Brexiteer’, denied women’s rights would be under threat when the country is no longer bound by the EU’s antidiscrimination laws.
She said: ‘We were at the forefront of most of the work on equal opportunities, we are at the forefront of clean energy and other aspects of good environment and social governance.
‘It’s a complete misunderstanding to think we’re like that because of the EU. We have led the charge and I have no worries at all that we’ll go backwards on that.’
She added that she had ‘great confidence in the City’, which is ‘very good at reinventing itself’.
Dame Helena suggested there may be a chance for women to get ahead as firms restructure in response to Brexit.
‘The fact that we are in this state of flux at the moment is in itself a good opportunity for women because no one can claim to know all the answers,’ she said.
‘I found in my career, in these times of upheaval, that’s when people are more receptive to new ways of thinking.’