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Ordinarily I would not want to snuff out the flickering flame of hope. Things are bad enough already. But today I must play against type. Last week, we witnessed great excitement as grand claims were made for the "soaring" progress being made by women in business. Female executives now hold 16 per cent of places on executive committees in the top UK companies, researchers from Cranfield university's school of management revealed. This, we were told, should be seen as a sign of success. In one sense, of course, this does represent progress. Sixteen per cent is clearly a lot better than practically zero, which is where that figure would have stood until fairly recently. Now there are 122 women executives wielding power and influence inside the UK's biggest companies just below board level. And that figure represents a rise of 40 per cent on the year before. But still: 16 per cent? Success? The last time I looked there seemed to be a roughly even split between men and women in the wider population. And while we're avoiding the pitfall of being ahistorical, perhaps it is worth pointing out that it is now 2007. Not 1957, 1987 or even 1997. We've come a long way, baby. Or, at least, we like to think we have. Is it necessary to give all the traditional excuses for this state of affairs another brief outing? I fear so. Yes, I have noticed, women have babies, often just at the time that male colleagues are taking on big new responsibilities at work. Once their career has been interrupted, women may find themselves on a "mummy track", unable to re-enter the workplace at the level they should. For sure, some women take a look at the sort of life their employer expects them to lead and decide that it isn't for them. Organisations have by and large been designed and run by men. The careers they offer are generally male-shaped: they are predicated on the idea that someone - a wife and mother - will be at home much of the time, taking on an overwhelming share of childcare and housekeeping duties. Mothers are faced with the "choice" of arranging decent childcare - expensive and difficult - or scaling down their career ambitions. And then there is the circular argument, also propounded by men, that states: "We've never had women at a senior level before, so we don't need to change the way we do things." Lots of men still think along precisely these lines. They just don't always admit it publicly. The few women at the top in business receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, creating the illusion that opportunities are equal. Fortune magazine recently ran an uplifting cover story on Anne Mulcahy, Xerox's chief executive, and her nominated successor, Ursula Burns. Here was proof that women can hack it at the top, even in the most testing circumstances. Likewise, Pepsi's Indra Nooyi impresses everyone she comes into contact with. At a recent lunch at the Financial Times her combination of commercial and interpersonal skills were displayed to great effect. But check out the figures compiled by Catalyst, the US pressure group. Under 15 per cent of US board directors are female, and there are only 13 female chief executives among the top 500 US companies. Time for a word from the management guru Tom Peters. "When I see the list of a company's board members and there are no women there," I heard him declare during one of his inimitable presentations a few years ago, "I say: BULLSHIT!" I have never spent any time in the navy, and therefore am unable to express myself quite as forcefully as Tom does. But I know what he means. And I agree with him. Too many women don't get a look-in at work because too many men are jealous of and scared by their ability. Some men just can't handle it when women show up and do better than them. The boys conspire to maintain the status quo and keep women out. This is not a bitter, paranoid woman talking. I am all man. We are so used to this situation that we consider it to be normal. And we get over-excited when we learn that, wow, just over one in 10 board directors in the FTSE 100 is now female. Of course, only 3.6 per cent are executive directors, but let's not dwell on that one just for the moment. So, if you are one of the 11 per cent of female directors of FTSE 100 companies, congratulations. You must be very proud. I am sure you got there on merit. But a cause for celebration? Ever since I read those figures a tune has been playing in my head, and I just can't get rid of it. It is the tune to a 1981 hit by the British band UB40, called "One in Ten", and the chorus goes like this: "I am the one in 10,
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