Treasury hires man ahead of four women

MPS criticise appointment of male professor to MPC role and call for sanctions to enforce gender equality

The Treasury has defended its hiring of a man to the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee when it also interviewed four women. It said Prof Jonathan Haskel was chosen on merit, and 44 of the 87 applicants who were invited to apply were female. Of those who did apply, eight were female and 19 were male. Prof Haskel was the only man on the shortlist. Meanwhile MPS called on the Government to impose quotas on companies that have failed to give women senior roles.

WHEN the Treasury selected four women on a five-person shortlist for one of its key jobs, it seemed odds-on that gender imbalance in finance would be redressed – by one at least.

But it has emerged that the Treasury hired the only man on the shortlist for the position on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.

Last night, it defended the decision by saying Professor Jonathan Haskel was chosen on merit after an internal panel had also interviewed four female candidates for the job.

The disclosure was made as MPS called on the Government to impose gender quotas on companies that have failed to promote women to senior leadership.

Prof Haskel, a professor of economics at Imperial College Business School, had been shortlisted for the external member role alongside four women, and 44 of the 87 applicants who were invited to apply were female. Of those who did apply, eight were female and 19 were male.

The nine-person committee has one female member, Silvana Tenreyro, a professor at the London School of Economics. Rachel Reeves, the chairman of the business select committee, called the appointment “truly staggering”.

She said: “The fact that four women were shortlisted shows that there are plenty of capable and well-qualified women but yet again the top jobs seem to be reserved for men.”

Maria Miller, who leads the women and equalities committee, said: “While progress has been made [with public appointments] there is a huge inequity in the way that women are elected to public appointments, which is again an issue of leading by example.

“People call it unconscious bias, but I have to say when you get to a certain stage, it is not unconscious any more. I think that is pitiful.” A Women’s Equality Party spokeswoman said the decision “suggests that even if they had an all-female shortlist, they would probably still appoint a man”. A spokesman for the Treasury said: “We are committed to diversity and encouraging the broadest range of candidates. We actively contacted 44 women to apply for this role, 80 per cent of those interviewed were women and the majority of those on the interview panel were women.

“The final appointment decision was based on merit.”

FTSE executives were criticised earlier this week for their “pitiful and patronising” excuses for not hiring senior women. Yesterday the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy released a list of companies’ worst excuses, including that women do not “fit comfortably into the board environment”, “All the ‘good’ women have already been snapped up”, and that they had already hired one woman so “it is someone else’s turn”.

Calling for tough sanctions on companies that fail to adhere to government targets, Ms Reeves warned that some firms must now comply or face intervention.

“It comes to a point where you have to say this isn’t good enough,” she said. “If businesses can’t deliver on their own then the Government should get involved. Businesses who are unwilling to be part of this and aren’t taking sufficient efforts need to be named and shamed.”

Ms Reeves added that Theresa May had to “lead by example”, pointing out that the vast majority of public bodies appointed by the Government had male figureheads.

Her comments were echoed by Mrs Miller, who said: “If we haven’t changed people’s attitudes and practice through the voluntary approach, then I think the question has to be asked whether other approaches have to be considered.”

Lord Davies, the former government tsar for women on boards, warned that some bosses remained “asleep at the wheel” and should be “ousted” by shareholders.