They call it Hermione Granger syndrome. Harry Potter’s sidekick is the brains but not the hero, and women in the City know how she feels. The big investment banks are ripe ground for tales of glass ceilings, strip club outings and hugely unequal pay.
From the Observer:
They call it Hermione Granger syndrome. Harry Potter’s sidekick is the brains but not the hero, and women in the City know how she feels. The big investment banks are ripe ground for tales of glass ceilings, strip club outings and hugely unequal pay.
The upper echelons are dominated by men and the City has some of the starkest gender pay gaps in Britain. But now those big earning, predominantly male, stars of the financial boom and the maverick ways that took them to the top are under scrutiny.
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In the post-mortem of financial meltdown, one question is growing louder. If more women – who many see as more risk aware, less short-termist – had been in senior positions at banks, would the credit crunch have been so severe?
In its bid to prevent another banking crisis the Treasury select committee has made the role of women in the City its latest focus. Chairman John McFall wants to provoke a debate about how many women are in top jobs, pay inequalities, flexible working practices and how sexist the general City culture is.
The committee (its only female member is Northampton MP Sally Keeble) is also looking for evidence of the prevalence of sexual harassment and exploitation.
To read the full story, visit guardian.co.uk
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