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William Collins
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018
Copyright © Helena Morrissey 2018
Cover design by Heike Schüssler
Graphs and charts by Martin Brown
Helena Morrissey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780008241605
Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008241629
Version: 2018-09-21
In memory of my wonderful grandmothers, Irene and Amy, who did not have the opportunities we have today.
Contents
3 The 30% Club: the strength of feminine power
4 Men, women, equal, different
5 Diversity of thought: welcome until anyone disagrees!
6 How CEOs can break the diversity barrier
9 Gender equality: good news for men and boys too
10 We can write the future together
It’s a good time to be a girl! In all honesty, I don’t think I could have written that unequivocally before now. Of course, I’ve seen real progress for women over my fifty-year lifetime, thirty-year career in a male-dominated industry and twenty-five years of motherhood, beginning with one son and now (a final tally) nine children, six girls and three boys. It’s certainly been – increasingly – a better time to be a girl. As you read my story I hope you will see so much to celebrate about this progress that we’ve already made, and how you can create your own opportunities for success, whatever stage you are at in life. I recognise now that I made some ‘lucky’ choices along the way; by seeing what works and what doesn’t, my hope is that you might leave much less to chance.
But today’s opportunity is so much greater than the unfinished business of the past – and that’s why I’ve written this book now. Gender equality is a well-worn subject but it is not one we have mastered. Despite the huge body of literature, of advice, theory and opinion, the reality is that still only a small number of women have been making it to the top or feel they are fulfilling their potential. Many more tell me they feel discouraged about their prospects, unfulfilled or conflicted in their multiple roles as mothers or carers with careers. They can’t see the linkage between their own reality and gender equality efforts that often seem targeted at a narrow group of white, privileged and highly educated women, rather than at all women.
Companies, too, are frustrated by limited progress in the numbers of senior women after many years of feeling they are doing a lot to encourage their female and other ‘diverse’ talent. Sometimes, the result of all these special initiatives has – inadvertently – been to do more harm than good; difference can seem difficult rather than desirable.
And yet, I am more optimistic today than ever before. I believe that we – men and women, working together – have an unprecedented opportunity to create a new, more successful, quite