ABSTRACT
Though women today in the UK have an equal right with men to choose a management career, it is clear that they do not yet have an equal chance to succeed. A number of major UK employers are recruiting as many female as male graduates. However, there are still relatively few senior women managers in the UK, and though the numbers are increasing, it is a very slow change (see Appendix). An Ashridge survey revealed that among The Times Top 200 companies women hold fewer than 4 per cent of director appointments.1 Women are more likely to be working in finance and banking or the service sector generally than in industries such as pharmaceuticals and manufacturing and there is one trend that is universal in any sector-the scarcity of women at middle and senior management levels. A summary of the European situation is highlighted in Table 8.1.
