Women, careers and the glass ceiling

Last week I attended a networking event about women and top management organized by Booz & co (former Booz Allen & Hamilton). Guest speaker was Mirjam de Blecourt, partner at Baker & Mckenzie, the international law firm. She was quite an inspiring woman, very tall (around 1.80m, blond, on killer heels wearing a little black dress). It was however not only her outfit that left an impression.

Talking about quota she stated that "men don't care that their neighbour got them a job or put a good word in for them, why should we". In the Netherlands there is a discussion on quota for boardroom positions. Some think that instating a law that says 40% of the management board should be female, will benefit diversity. Opponents argue that this will only lead to the creation of "empty" positions and not contribute to the issue at hand.

Back to Mirjam de Blecourt, her main message was that more women need to be in top positions for other women to reach them. Looking at ABN Amro's reality or Fortis' reality, the future is not promising. Not only is the banking industry one of the old boys networks home base but the entire executive committee of Fortis consists of men. In the board however there is 1 (!!!)women.

I work for global markets, which is also largely male territory. I fould that almost all of the cliches are true. Sexual remarks are made on a daily basis, people do take you less seriously and it is hard to find your place amongst your colleagues.

Since the Booz & co meeting I am more convinced that I should contribute in some way to this issue. This post on my blog is my first attempt. For sure, I think this is a debate that should be kept alive.