Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant'
1st June 2012, 14:32
Is there anything to the arguements put forward here? Particularly the Timmons' assurance that nothing's standing in women's way except themselves. Especially interested in the female perception.
"There is nothing to stop you being whoever or whatever you want to be. The only thing stopping you is you."
So says Emer Timmons, a businesswoman of 20 years' experience, promoted seven times in the past six years.
But figures gathered by BBC News show women still hold fewer than a third of the most senior positions in the UK.
In politics this figure plummets to a fifth, and it is even lower in the top 100 companies.
But if, as Ms Timmons argues, women now have a huge opportunity to succeed, why are they still largely invisible at the top table?
The 43-year-old president of BT Global Services UK believes there are so few lifestyle obstacles, it can only be down to the individual.
"Sometimes people still think they should be handed things - but they've just absolutely got to have more confidence in their abilities," says Ms Timmons, who is married with two step-children.
Diane Abbott MP was the lone female contender for the Labour leadership.
"I, as a woman, really agonised and thought 'Is this right?', and obviously all the other women in the party did too because I was the only one prepared to go for it, whereas the men who ran really didn't give it a second thought," she explains.
"Women tend to think of the reasons why they shouldn't do something, whereas men are not hindered by that level of introspection."
But barrister Cherie Blair believes men are subject to stereotyping too.
Men do not want to be cast as "the chap who goes hunting in the forest, brings home the bacon and has nothing to do with the bringing up of his children".
She adds: "The roles between the sexes are now much more fluid."
(Full article here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18127469)
"There is nothing to stop you being whoever or whatever you want to be. The only thing stopping you is you."
So says Emer Timmons, a businesswoman of 20 years' experience, promoted seven times in the past six years.
But figures gathered by BBC News show women still hold fewer than a third of the most senior positions in the UK.
In politics this figure plummets to a fifth, and it is even lower in the top 100 companies.
But if, as Ms Timmons argues, women now have a huge opportunity to succeed, why are they still largely invisible at the top table?
The 43-year-old president of BT Global Services UK believes there are so few lifestyle obstacles, it can only be down to the individual.
"Sometimes people still think they should be handed things - but they've just absolutely got to have more confidence in their abilities," says Ms Timmons, who is married with two step-children.
Diane Abbott MP was the lone female contender for the Labour leadership.
"I, as a woman, really agonised and thought 'Is this right?', and obviously all the other women in the party did too because I was the only one prepared to go for it, whereas the men who ran really didn't give it a second thought," she explains.
"Women tend to think of the reasons why they shouldn't do something, whereas men are not hindered by that level of introspection."
But barrister Cherie Blair believes men are subject to stereotyping too.
Men do not want to be cast as "the chap who goes hunting in the forest, brings home the bacon and has nothing to do with the bringing up of his children".
She adds: "The roles between the sexes are now much more fluid."
(Full article here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18127469)