Concrete ceilings

Yes, it’s cropped up again. More research tells us that there are not enough women in top jobs. The Equality and Human Rights Commission says that professional women are no longer facing a glass ceiling but a concrete one. Interesting facts include that it will take around 200 years for there to be equal numbers of men and women represented in parliament – the same amount of time it would take a snail to crawl the length of the Great Wall of China. The report blames traditional and inflexible working practices for the situation, which I’m sure plays a role, but is it fair to say that Britain is endlessly “marginalising [and] rejecting talented people”?

It would be great to see more women represented in top level positions, but it’s a slow process. Tradition is called tradition for a reason, and there’s not going to be rapid change where this is concerned. As much as they’d like to reach the top of the career ladder, many women will choose to put the long hours on hold for their family commitments. We need to continue encouraging women back into the workplace after their maternity leave, and put measures in place to ease this process, but at the end of the day it’s an individual’s own decision. What do you think?