Sexism City in the
■ Report finds shocking harassment and bullying ■ MPs: Era of impunity must now come to end
SEXISTS and bullies in the City of London are operating with ‘impunity’, a damning report by MPs warns today.
The Treasury Select Committee found a ‘shocking’ prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying within finance, which it said ‘holds back progress for women’.
The culture remains largely unchanged since a previous investigation was published in 2018, the MPs claim.
Evidence given to the committee highlights the widespread misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and poor whistleblowing procedure.
The report found companies regularly use legally binding contracts to ‘cover up’ abuse and to make problems ‘go away’, while HR teams tend to prioritise the
‘Efforts to tackle issue moving at snail’s pace’
reputation of the business over the wellbeing of staff.
MPs warn this underpins a common view that male perpetrators of harassment suffer few consequences because of their behaviour.
They cite the experience of one woman, who says that she was pushed to leave her job after reporting her manager for putting his hand up her skirt, while her boss kept his job.
The report comes just weeks after a survey from the same committee found that taking maternity leave is perceived as more damaging to a woman’s career than sexual misconduct allegations are for men.
The findings also follow a string of recent scandals including accusations of sexual harassment and assault levelled by women against fund manager Crispin Odey, as well as claims of sexual misconduct allegations at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Although the committee notes there has been some improvement in the industry, including better representation of women in senior positions and a small reduction in the average gender pay gap, it warns progress is still too slow.
‘As in 2018, the overarching problem behind all these issues is that of impunity for perpetrators and culture, and the limited progress since 2018 can largely be ascribed to a lack of cultural change in the sector,’ the report says.
‘The era of impunity for perpetrators of sexual harassment and bullies must now end.’
The committee is calling for a ban on the use of NDAs in harassment cases, as well for the Government to legislate for stronger protections for whistleblowers in sexual harassment cases.
In December, Minister for Women Kemi Badenoch confirmed that the Government was looking into ‘an elegant solution’ for preventing the misuse of NDAs more widely.
In a statement, Harriett Baldwin, chairman of the Treasury Committee, said: ‘ The UK’s financial services sector is the crown jewel of this country’s economy – admired by the international community and takes pride in being ahead of the curve.
‘That’s why it’s frustrating that efforts to tackle sexism in the City are moving at a snail’s pace.’
Gwen Rhys, founder of campaign group Women in the City, said: ‘ I welcome the call for greater transparency in all matters relating to the sexual harassment of women. It’s hard to believe that this is still happening nearly a quarter of the way into the 21st century.’
MPs also recommended that companies should be banned from asking for salary histories to help tackle the gender pay gap.
They also advised that the Government should introduce a legal requirement to list salary bands when advertising a job.
At the moment, only companies with more than 250 employees have to publish an annual report into their gender pay gaps.
The MPs said that this requirement should be reduced to 50 employees for firms in the financial services sector.
Companies that record wide gender pay gaps should then be forced to explain why these exist and publish an action plan, the MPs added.