The trouble with working women, or the perceptions and realities of women working, were explored before a packed room of young professionals by Kate Cooper of extelligence and Victoria Garrard an employment partner at law firm HBJ Gateley Waring.
Kate Cooper shared amusing vignettes of her experiences where as a female teachers she was not allowed to wear trousers, when as a married woman she was not allowed to complete her own tax return and her father wrote to her as “Mrs Robert Cooper”. Kate related how she has diplomatically tackled difficulties that she has encountered and how on occasion interaction at work with men in the boardroom has been assisted by being a woman as she was considered non threatening and was therefore better able to propose solutions.
Kate Cooper has documented the interesting path of women in her family from her great-grandmother in 1878 when London University was the first UK university to admit women, through to the birth of her granddaughter in 2009 and the launch of her first multimedia publishing venture “The new Optimists: Scientists view tomorrow’s world & what it means to us” in 2010. A copy of that journey can be read at www.extelligence.org/107.
Although it is clear that women have a significant and valuable presence in the workplace, and although in 2010 51% of young women entered Higher Education in the UK, Kate doesn’t think that women’s rights are a done deal.
Victoria Garrard, who was promoted to partnership whilst on maternity leave, shared a week in her life traversing through the joys and difficulties of juggling a family of three children suffering from a domino effect sickness bug alongside keeping her clients happy in a top city centre law firm. Victoria is living proof that with planning, the goodwill and support from your employer, a supportive family and a good sense of humour it is possible to be successful at work and at home. However, both speakers commented that success has to be personally defined and that one model does not fit all.
Donna Codrington, chair of the diversity committee and an employment lawyer at DLA Piper UK LLP commented that “both of the speakers have shown that being a woman in the workplace does not automatically mean that you will not achieve or that you definitely will come up against difficulties that do not affect men. Kate and Victoria have demonstrated that people who are bright, determined and able to utilise their communication and organisational skills effectively are able to forge careers and lives that are balanced and happy.
However, as with all social change, attitudes at the top of organisations, particularly of large ones, and in some industries, do not change as rapidly as attitudes of those coming up through the ranks. Childcare responsibilities, social attitudes and expectations of working mothers seems to have the biggest impact on women’s careers. With the rising numbers of women in the workplace and government promotion of family, such as the change to maternity leave where this can be shared between partners from April 2011, perhaps employers and childless colleagues over time will no longer see women as being less dedicated to their careers simply because they have or may have children and require flexibility.” As the voice of young professionals, Birmingham Future intends to canvass and represent its members views on the issue relating to of equality of men and women in the professions.
