The spate of sex discrimination cases in the City is doing little to further the cause of ambitious women, writes Patience Wheatcroft in The Times
Organisations would not admit it, but there is a risk that these cases will make them increasingly wary of hiring women. One City firm of brokers admits that, whereas a few years ago around a quarter of its staff were women, today the number is tiny. No edict has gone out from the chief executive but managers themselves have, apparently, decided that they would rather play safe. It must be said that theirs is not the most refined working environment: the language can be ripe and the sense of humour not always subtle. The managers are not concerned that the women they might wish to employ would be offended by this so much as that they could find themselves faced with paying heavily for ridding themselves of women who have not been successful in their roles.