The above quote was taken from a report undertaken by the Law Society (the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales). They surveyed 1,200 law firms and the Law Society President, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff stated that the results disclosed “an uncomfortable truth”.
If you read any newspaper you will not have failed to notice the ever increasing articles outlining that there are not enough women at the top. Two reports released at similar times showed the lack of progression of women in the board room. This highlights that the rate of change is very slow in order to get women to the top, and secondly that companies (who may recognise the benefits of having women at the top) are potentially tired of hearing the message regarding the need to do everything they can “to ensure women reach the upper echelons of their organisations”.
The Law Society Report, highlighted that women were not reaching the top in the numbers that they should have been, and this in some organisations is a result of men dominating the boardrooms because women are wanting to strike a balance between a high-flying work life and maintaining the ever important family life.
This is wrong, because as potential organisations are no doubt inundated with employment matters on prejudicial/discriminative accusations in the work place, should law firms themselves really be preventing women from reaching the top of because they want to be at home some of the time to support their family.
As a result, these firms are potentially losing talented women and promoting those men that may not be as talented.
If a woman can do her job to the highest possible standard and be an asset to the company she works for, her family status should bear little thought, as flexible working options should be available and this should not hinder her chances at promotion. It is also important to note, that just because a woman decides to have children and may potentially need to work flexible hours, this does not show her lack of enthusiasm, commitment or work ethic.
The risk of this failure to promote talented women, means that legal boardrooms will be full of men, and a proportion of them may not warrant their boardroom position, according to the survey that is.
Lucy Scott-Moncrieff highlights that if career progression was based on pure merit, then some law firm senior partners may never have even stepped into the board room.
Whilst it is unfair and not my place to state who should or should not be in the boardroom of any legal firm, it seems wrong to prevent female promotion based on family circumstances. Surely there needs to be some sounding board for this ongoing dilemma, where women can be successful in the board room and also given the time they need to raise a family, but the business is still successful and does not suffer because of it. I do understand the other side of the argument, where it is hard to run meetings and have people involved when they need to start work late to take the children to school, and need to leave early and be on call, but there must be a resolution and a way that can incorporate the ideas of women with a strong business head to ensure that businesses can develop and grow.
I read this article in The Times, http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/article3660135.ece
Rebecca x
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