The Paula Principle

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
Read More

Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
Read More

Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
Read More

Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
Read More

feminising the bonus culture? plus let’s not forget the tax angle

It's no surprise, but the Chartered Management Institute recently revealed the difference between the bonuses awarded to women and to men.   Much of the commentary suggested that  the main reason for this is that women don't ask aggressively enough for their bonuses.    I'm sure this is indeed the case, and it fits directly under the PP Factor 3 (lack of self-confidence).  I realise too that some of the answer is for women to  be more assertive in making their claims. But I have some hesitation around this,  leaving aside (just for the moment) a general queasiness about the size of bonuses and how far they are functional.  The suggestion is…
Read More

PS on older women working, and Shakespeare

A PS to yesterday's post, where I pointed out that women aged 45+ are most often found to be breadwinners.  Kimberley Botwright of the OECD's Public Affairs directorate has been running a rather improbably but delightful series of blogs linking Shakespeare plays to current OECD analyses.   So far we've had Merchant of Venice used to explore issues of financial stability, and Romeo & Juliet for policies on youth and risk. Her post on Love's Labour's Lost  led me to data on labour market participation.  If you toggle it to show the figures on employment rates amongst  older women, you can see that there's a pretty strong relation between  them and the relative prosperity of the…
Read More

breadwinning

A new report from ippr, by Dalia Ben-Galim and Spencer Thomson, looks at how many women are now breadwinners.  The answer is, of course, many more than there used to be. Who counts as a 'breadwinner'?  The report defines it as someone who earns as much or more as their partner, or is the sole earner.    On this basis there are now 2.2 million female breadwinners, up by a million since 1996.  1 in 3 working women are now the breadwinner (don't forget, this includes a lot of single mums, 43% of whom are now employed). The definition covers a huge variety of circumstances.  It includes a solo working mother alongside…
Read More

why so little fiction on women at work?

I've been looking for examples from fiction to illustrate the  5 Paula Principle factors: discrimination; child/eldercare; psychology/self-confidence; vertical networks; and choice.  I've sought help from friends who are much better read than I am, and here's the curious thing:  it is quite easy to find examples from classics from C19 or earlier - but not from contemporary novels. An obvious example: in Middlemarch Dorothea's intellectual ability is put humiliatingly at Casaubon's service - she acts as his note-taker and amanuensis but does not dare to aspire to anything greater (though eventually the frustration bursts out, in a heart-rending scene).   Helpful friends pointed to various examples from Dickens, Austen etc.  I've found good…
Read More

Violins, hard work and training

I went last night to a Prom concert.  Bruch's violin concerto was played by  young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment).  She was mightily impressive.        I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I     wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument.  Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists.  For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish.   Whatever the…
Read More

Vers l’égalité

Whilst on holiday I was interested to read in  the French papers that the minister for the rights of women, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has just taken an outline law to parliament.    It  has a number of dimensions - parental leave, pension supplements, measures against violence against women - but particularly interesting for the Paula Principle is the intention to use quotas to boost the representation of women in the conseils d'administration of large companies and of public bodies such as sports federations, chambers of commerce and consultative bodies. These councils are advisory rather than decision-making bodies, but can be influential.  The minister proposes a quota of 40% of places to be…
Read More

Whose flexibility?

I went recently to the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on zero hours contracts (ZHCs).  My daughter was on one of these for quite a while.  I think of a 'contract' as something struck between two or more agents with some degree of reciprocal obligation towards each other, however minimal and formal.  ZHCs don't look much like  that to me.  They vary, of course, but typically they involve the individual being at the organisation's disposal, at almost any time, with no reciprocity. The RF report, and other research by Jill Rubery focussing on domiciliary care workers, shows just how unbalanced the deal often is:  work which is very intermittent, so that…
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Investing attitudes: Buffett and bankers

Here's Warren Buffett;  to me he comes across as entirely genuine, and I like his 'minimum threshold' approach. http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2013/06/17/n-warren-buffett-women-in-business-full.cnnmoney If he can get it, why not others?  The Tyrie report on banking behaviour includes (para 140) a conclusion that the absence of women on trading floors may have contributed to the grotesque excesses.  It makes good sense, but I'd like to see more evidence .   know there's been some research on testosterone levels, but I'd be more interested in empirical studies of decision-making - in banking or elsewhere.
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Critical paths

The recent IPPR report, A Critical Path, is a level-headed and coolly-argued analysis of the options for the future of higher education in England.  It combines a coherent set of criteria for deciding where we should be going, a realistic acceptance of financial constraints and a set of rigorously worked through scenarios.  As a result, it's an excellent basis for constructive debate. I'm going to focus on one particular aspect (part-timers), but before  that I'd like simply to highlight a selection of the report's telling points.  It restates (albeit briefly) the case for universities to have civic and local responsibilities.  It brings into the argument the large amounts of tax relief (upwards…
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Swedish skirt solution

My visit to Sweden earlier this week coincided with a great story from there, which made it into several newspapers.  12 male traindrivers were banned from wearing shorts, even in hot weather when their cabs are particularly badly ventilated.  So they turned up in skirts instead - and the company went along with this (it's not said how reluctantly) since to do otherwise would have been discrimination.  The original ban sounds nonsensical, but it's a nice solution.  ( I tried googling for an illustration for this post, but 'man and skirt' led me to adult only sites.) In discussion with a Swedish colleague I raised the question of why jobs are…
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