Fawcett reveals sexism in the City rife (31/3/08)

Tomorrow (Tuesday 1st April 2008) the Fawcett Society launches a major new campaign, Sexism and the City (2), calling for tough action to stamp out sexism in UK workplaces. 

Why? Because nearly 40 years on from the outlawing of discrimination against women in the workplace, sexism remains rife:

• Only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors are women
• 30,000 women lose their jobs every year in the UK simply for being pregnant
• Two thirds of low paid workers are women
• Women working full-time are paid on average 17% less than men
• 18% of sex discrimination compensation awards are for sexual harassment
• The first UK lapdance club opened in 1995. There are now over 300 lapdance clubs in the UK

For the first time the Fawcett Society is joining the dots between women’s experiences in the workplace and a wider culture in which women are subject to sexist stereotypes and are increasingly sexually objectified.

Sexist workplaces
Attempts to shoe-horn women in to workplaces designed by men for men have failed. The result? Motherhood carries a penalty and poverty has a female face. Fawcett is calling on the Government to extend the right to work flexibly to all so that flexible working is not seen as the “mummy track”, and ending the opt-out of the EU Work Time Directive in order to curb the destructive long working hours culture. 

Sexist attitudes
All women are now subject to a damaging culture of sexual objectification, waved in by the normalization of the sex ‘industry’. Women in the workplace experience worrying levels of direct sexual harassment, and visiting a lapdance club has become an increasingly normal way for companies to entertain clients. Yet polling carried out by Ipsos MORI and published today shows:

• 60% of women would be very or fairly uncomfortable working for an organisation that allows its employees to use lapdancing venues for entertaining clients.
• 52% of men and 59% of women believe it is not acceptable for businesses to use lapdance clubs as venues for entertaining clients (3).

As a first step to challenging the objectification of women, Fawcett is calling for lapdance clubs to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments (as sex shops currently are) instead of the current Premises License (like ordinary pubs and clubs), enabling local authorities to place greater restrictions on the clubs.

Kate, a former City worker, said:
“Often client after-work meetings became visits to strip clubs, and I knew senior guys who had told HR they wanted a new junior team member and that she must be slim, blond and pretty.  Screensavers and pictures of semi-naked women were not uncommon around the office.  One guy refused to work with me because he said my breasts were off-putting, and management responded by asking me if I had done anything to provoke this, then moving the guy who complained to a separate desk.” 

Commenting on the campaign, Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society, said:
“Behind the conspicuous wealth of the City lies a hidden story of disadvantage and discrimination affecting women at every level of business - from the bathroom to the boardroom. For the first time Fawcett is exposing the links between these experiences. That link is sexism.

"Women have the right to dignity and respect in their workplaces and in their daily lives. It is time for women and men to stand up against the sexist culture of objectifying women that has gripped our society.

"The Sexism and the City campaign is calling upon Government, businesses and individual employees to take urgent action. Everyone pays the price for sexism, so everyone has a role to play in stamping it out.”

For more information or to request interviews, contact Kat Banyard, Campaigns Officer, on 020 7253 2598 or 07775 855037.

Notes to editors
(1) The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading campaign for women’s rights www.fawcettsociety.org.uk
(2) Sexism and the City is being launched on Tuesday 1st April, 13:30 – 15:00 at the London Development Agency. Speakers will include Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell MP; Fleur Bothwick, Director of Diversity and Inclusiveness, Ernst & Young; and Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society. Three women will also speak about their personal experiences of sexism in the City. To register a place at the launch contact Kat banyard: kat.banyard@fawcettsociety.org.uk or 020 7253 2598. The Sexism and the City manifesto can be downloaded from www.fawcettsociety.org.uk
(3) Ipsos MORI interviewed 1001 adults in Great Britain aged 16+ by telephone between 8-11 February 2008. Data is weighted to the profile of the population.