Time to get the balance right
Businesswoman Jacqui Low is a one-off in the Scottish Premiership.
But the Partick Thistle director believes more women must follow her for the good of the game.
Unlike the other two female Premiership directors, Low had no existing links with her club before joining the board.
Low, boss of Edinburgh communications consultancy Indigo, was invited to join the board by Firhill chairman David Beattie 12 months ago.
She said: “I said I would consider joining if I felt I could contribute.
“I spent about five months shadowing the board, attending meetings, and going to games.
“I wanted to see how they functioned and whether it was a genuine offer. I would not have joined the board if I felt I was a token.”
Low has had a warm welcome in other boardrooms after a couple of disconcerting early experiences.
“I’m never made to feel in a minority and I’m treated exactly the same as all the other directors,” she said.
“I was asked a few times at the start whose wife I was. Then an elderly director of another club asked me if I was the entertainment.
“Otherwise being a female is nothing other than an advantage because other clubs’ directors remember me. I hope they realise I’m nobody’s fool.”
Having built up and run her own successful business, Low feels the absence of boardroom diversity is damaging for Scottish football.
She said: “We now need to bring women on to boards so it becomes the norm and isn’t a talking point.
“Boards which function well are diverse. Having complementary skills can only be to the advantage of any organisation.
“Having said that, I don’t believe in quotas. I believe in meritocracy.
“I spent my five months looking at Thistle and came to the conclusion they were very open to having a woman – and indeed didn’t see it from that perspective.
“They believed they’d found someone who could add to their board and that’s why I agreed to join. I can see my coming in allows my male colleagues to think differently, say different things and possibly see opportunities they might not otherwise have done.”