Man-Made:The damaging consequences of having so few women in positions of power

  • John Edmonds Visiting Professor, Durham University Business School
  • Eva Tutchell Independent researcher

Abstract

Very few women are inpositions of power in Britain.  Men hold about 80% of powerful positions and this imbalance of power not only offends normal considerations of justice and equality but has damaging consequences for Britain's economic performance.  Male dominated organisations tend to be highly centralised, wasting talent and stifling iniative and innovation. A progamme of fundeamental reform, including the enforcement of current legislation, the introduction of quotas in key areas and the provision of career breaks is proposed.

Author Biographies

John Edmonds, Visiting Professor, Durham University Business School

John Edmonds is a trade unionist and specialist in work organisation.  Until 2003 John was General Secretary of the 700,000 member GMB trade union where he increased the representation of women at all levels in the union.  During that period John served as President of the TUC. John is a Visiting Professor at Durham University Business School and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College, London, where he studies labour market and gender equality issues.

 

Eva Tutchell, Independent researcher

Eva Tutchell has spent her working life in education, first as a secondary teacher, then as an adviser to local authorities on gender equality. She set up and ran the new MA Module on Gender in Southampton University where she was a visiting Fellow. Her book Dolls and Dungarees: Gender Issues in the Primary School Curriculum was commissioned by the Open University Press and is recommended reading for trainee teachers. Eva has been active in politics all her adult life and has stood as Parliamentary candidate.

 

Published
2016-10-30