“Demeaning, demoralising and ultimately defeating.” Not the words of a disgruntled international footballer bemoaning his manager’s techniques, but how Cathy Minehan, dean of the Simmons school of management in Boston, Massachusetts, characterises many companies as far as their attitude to women is concerned.
Too many organisations hold an “inherent bias against women”, she says in a blog on her school’s website. “Talented women who have been recruited with great signing bonuses fill the pipelines of many companies, but far too few make it beyond middle management and almost none to top management,” she says.
Hers is a pointed critique, less guarded than those you often hear even from committed campaigners on the issue of women’s equality.