Employment Law Advocates

In today’s Observer, Sir Stuart Rose, the CEO of M&S,¬† is quoted as saying that women “have never had it so good” and that “Apart from the fact that you’ve got more equality than you ever can deal with, the fact of the matter is that you’ve got real democracy and there really are no glass ceilings, despite the fact that some of you moan about it all the time.

“Women can get to the top of any single job that they want to in the UK. You’ve got a woman fighter pilot who went on to join the Red Arrows … I mean what else do you want, for God’s sake? Women astronauts. Women miners. Women dentists. Women doctors. Women managing directors. What is it you haven’t got?”

Technically speaking, Sir Stuart is correct, yes women have more equality than ever before and women can make it to the highest positions in the workplace, however, his positivity, if you can call it that, misses the point. Women are treated more equally than  before, however, that does not amount to equality. Women can make it to the highest jobs, but, the statistics show that they are not in the numbers that are demonstrative of a society free of sex discrimination. He is correct in saying that women have never had it so good but wrong to leap to the conclusion that professional women do not suffer from sexism.

As if the point did not need demonstrating, a timely reminder is Justin Rowlatt’s gaffe (on a BBC programme called The Trouble With Working Women http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8051898.stm) which shows that such prejudices are still rife.