Image of business ‘superwomen’ unhelpful, says peer

PERCEPTIONS of superwomen who “have it all” are deterring female entrepreneurs from starting their own businesses, a government adviser said.

Baroness Bertin, a member of Theresa May’s new task force to encourage women in careers, said the time had come to be honest about how challenging juggling children and jobs can be.

The Conservative peer, who, as Gabby Bertin, was a key aide to David Cameron during his time in opposition and as prime minister, is one of a group of senior women who have been appointed to ensure government policies consider the impact on women and focus on expanding their role in business, politics and society.

In a speech, Lady Bertin criticised the concept of “lean in”, a philosophy championed by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s billionaire chief operating officer, which urges women to be more proactive at seizing career opportunities.

Lady Bertin said: “We should be honest about how challenging this can be if and when children come along. All the talk of superwomen having it all is not very helpful to most women in this country. ‘Leaning in’ is all very well if you are a highly-paid executive with wraparound childcare, but less so if you are a single parent, or if both of you work very long hours and there is a hard stop for nursery pick-up.

“It should not be a crime against your career to want to see your children awake during the week.”

The peer also said stereotypes forced on toddlers by programmes such as Peppa Pig were holding women back. She described how her four-year-old daughter said she wanted to be a nurse because she thought that “only boys can be doctors”. The peer claimed her daughter picked up this perception from watching the popular children’s cartoon.

“Deeply ingrained gender stereotyping starts early on,” she said. “It can still subconsciously drive women and men down different paths.”

Her comments also addressed working fathers, as she called for the “macho culture that sniggers behind its hand at shared parental leave or dads playing a bigger role” to be eradicated.

The task force is chaired by Nikki Da Costa, the former managing director of Bellenden, a UK lobbying firm, and now head of legislative affairs at No 10. It follows the launch of a campaign in The Daily Telegraph to champion female entrepreneurs and tackle disparities in start-up funding between men and women.

A recent survey showed that women business owners were given nearly 50 per cent less in funding than men, with figures showing it was getting worse.