Whilst the news of Anna Stewart’s appointment as CEO Laing O’Rourke
from April 2013 is not unexpected, it is certainly welcomed.
Especially since the statistic regarding women on FTSE 100
boards show that whilst numbers have increased from 12.5% in two years up to
17.4% the majority of these have been non-executive appointments, with only a
1.2% rise in executive roles.
Some papers have taken the notion that Stewart's appointment
will bring equality to the sector, but we should not be blindsided by such
simplistic views, whilst I have every confidence that she will make a fantastic
CEO; putting the weight of industry diversity on her shoulders might be a
little too much for anyone to deliver.
We should rejoice that there is a woman in a prominent board
room position with an industry background (she is MRICS) at exec level; because
whilst there are a number of women in non-exec positions, exec positions in SME’s
or exec positions in HR roles there are very few role models for women working
in construction roles within large organisation
Why is why if
I was still a site manager I know where I would be sending my CV.
Back to boards, Maria Miller the minister for women and
equalities has announced that she thinks
the proposed 40% quotas from Brussels are “dreadful”, here’s why we disagree,
The majority of people I know are concerned about talk of quotas for
women on boards. There is a worry that they will water down skills, give a leg
up to people who don’t deserve it and undermine the achievements of those that
have worked their way up on their own.
I can understand how people got to that conclusion but my experience has
shown that logic to be a little backward and here’s why:
I sit on a few boards and talk to other women who sit on a few more and
we have found the same thing. Quite often in meetings when we are the only
women present we make a point and people nod and move on. Then 5 minutes later
someone else raises exactly the same point word for word and it is applauded.
Worse, it is then minuted as the idea of the person who repeated it.
Usually I’m happy enough that the point was being considered but there
are times I feel it’s important that my contribution is seen as mine. When I
have voiced this, I have been told I probably didn’t speak loud enough, or
wasn’t forthright or confident in my opinion. Problem is, no matter how loud,
confident, forthright or downright rude I am the outcome doesn’t often change.
But that’s not really the point, what I find interesting is this:
It has never happened to me on a mixed board and it has never happened
to any of the other women I spoke to on a mixed board either.
Not once; not even a little bit.
And this makes me wonder why this happens.
When I’m the only woman on a board or in a meeting I do sometimes get
conscious of that fact and have been known to wonder if I’m there as a token,
even when I know I’m not. So if I’m thinking that and I know the reasons why I
am there – what might the rest of the group be thinking; it’s not unreasonable
that the thought might have crossed their minds?
It seems to me that whenever there is just one of someone we look at
what they represent not who they are; one women will always be a woman in a
group of 11 men no matter what her reasons for getting to that position in the
first place. It’s all about numbers.
If you have three women, no matter how they got there, they stop being
women and start being members of a board. Once we achieve a critical mass
tokenism stops being an issue and we start to take the opinions of all board
members seriously.
In layman’s terms, a woman on her own will be perceived as a quota even
when she is not, conversely, a group of women will not be seen a quota even
when they are.
Before we make the mistake of putting this down to good/bad,
sexist/non-sexist people, in my experience, this is a subconscious action
carried out by considerate, personable and usually supportive
individuals.
We cannot overestimate the extent to which we behave subconsciously, and
until we get our heads around that notion it is likely that we will not
appreciate the skills of women on boards, we will fail to see the benefit in
appointing more and we will undermine the achievements of those who got there
on their own merit by ignoring their contribution… …Exactly the things we are
worried that quotas might do.
