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Stamp it out
Sexism in the workplace remains a prevalent feature of office life in the UK, leading women's campaign group the Fawcett Society revealed in March.
Only 11 per cent of FTSE 100 company directors are women and 30,000 females are fired from their jobs every year for being pregnant. The Fawcett Society is calling on the government to extend the right to work flexibly to all so that flexible working is not just seen as the "mummy track".
It is also campaigning for the end of the opt-out of the EU Working Time Directive in order to curb the destructive long working hours culture.
The Fawcett Society says that attempts to provide female workers with equal rights in the UK office environment have failed and that women are subjected to damaging sexual stereotyping.
Dr Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, said: "Behind the conspicuous wealth of the City lies a hidden story of disadvantage and discrimination affecting women at every level of business – from the bathroom to the boardroom. For the first time Fawcett is exposing the links between these experiences. That link is sexism."
The report highlights that women working full-time are paid on average 17 per cent less than men.
Client entertaining
Campaigners from the Fawcett group claim that the objectification of female workers remains a central problem and is exacerbated by the use of lapdancing and strip clubs for entertaining clients.
There are over 300 lapdance clubs in the UK and 18 per cent of sex discrimination compensation awards are made to women who have sued for sexual harassment.
Fawcett lobbyists will be making an appeal to the public and to the government for lapdance clubs to be licensed as sex encounter establishments, the same category that sex shops fall into.
Kate, a former City worker, said: "Often client after-work meetings became visits to strip clubs and I knew senior guys who had told HR they wanted a new junior team member and that she must be slim, blonde and pretty."
A poll carried out by Ipsos MORI revealed that 60 per cent of women would feel uncomfortable working for an organisation that allows use of lapdancing clubs to entertain clients.
The same poll also showed that 52 per cent of men and 59 per cent of women believe it is wrong for businesses to use stripclubs for client meetings.
The Fawcett society launched a major new campaign, Sexism and the City, on April 1 and called for tougher action from all quarters to stamp out workplace sex discrimination.
"Everyone pays the price for sexism so everyone has a role to play in stamping it out," said Rake.
