Women --not-- at the top of the Civil Service

[darleneconnor]

The cabinet secretary has never been a woman.

Only 23% of permanent secretaries are women.

WTF is going on?

Surely it should be easier for women to get to the top in the public sector than the private sector?

Childcare can't be blamed because you need to be 50+ for one of these positions.

[meditrina]

Child care can be blamed, as you drop behind your peer group during the childbearing years, and may have less experience etc and not move up as expected if you work part-time. The most irritating blaming is that which says that women don't make the too because they were expected to resign - that went out in the 1970s!

Whether we should have structures which remove the mid-career snags.

How does the public sector compare to blue chip companies, BTW?

[darleneconnor]

Overall women fare better in the public than private sector, probably beacuse of better maternity/parental rights/job share/fixed hours etc.

But even if a woman spends, say 5 year working p/t shouldnt she still get to the top grades, albeit maybe 2-5 years later? With the pension age rising surely this shouldn't be such a problem?