I hope this wasn't a stupid thing to do!

I don't recall saying anything about whether or not she had a point. The OP said she didn't want to be outed. From what she said you could narrow it down to about 10 firms. Out of that, one firm announced this appointment immediately after the OP did.

Sorry, I'm getting chromosomes mixed I meant to say "xx has been named senior partner etc, etc."

With more than a little help from the op, Sera. She furnished quite a few of the relevant details.

It still proves the OP's point, doesn't it? That the appointment of women to senior roles is such a rarity that from the whole industry you've been able to identify her company now that they have done so.

Eh? Because it's such a rare event for a woman to be appointed to senior management that across the entire country the one you happen to have seen in your newsletter must be the same one that the OP is talking about?

The OP has published that she works for a national firm of accountants with regional offices and that one of their Scottish offices has appointed a woman partner as it's senior partner

There was a financial sector newsletter announcing several new appointments for a national firm of accountants including the appointment of a woman partner to senior partner in in one of its Scottish regional offices.

The financial sector newsletter referred to "a number of changes have been made to x's senior leadership team in Scotland. XY has been named senior partner for the firms' (city in Scotland) office, having been with the firm for 21 years".

The OP is talking about a senior partner appointment in Scotland
-not just any random senior management jobs for an accountancy firm which has cross border offices. That in itself narrows down the field of potential firms.

It's up to the OP- She said she didn't want to be outed. I think she has outed herself.

Good for you, OP. I like your e-mail, and I think in any properly run company it would be taken as useful feedback and input. I know it's one of the things my company (getting on for 3000 employees) is working on very seriously. We're gradually getting more female middle managers, but relatively few senior managers (though our head of R&D is female).

I have a couple of good friends who are among the first women to make it into senior management, and we have lunchtime chats about the barriers women face - whether it's finding role models, mentoring, knowing the job can be done flexibly (one of them is childfree, the other has kids and works part time and from home some days), thinking about how to word job adverts so that people know that part timers can go for management jobs, encouraging women to move forward (that old chestnut that men will put themselves forward for a job where they meet half the criteria, whereas women self-filter by only going for it when they tick all the boxes). I think good employers and their HR departments are clued up about things like unconscious selection bias and so on.

Eh? Because it's such a rare event for a woman to be appointed to senior management that across the entire country the one you happen to have seen in your newsletter must be the same one that the OP is talking about?

Well that kinda proves the OP's point in a nutshell, doesn't it?!

You do realise your post about the appointment of a senior female partner identifies the firm in question?

I've just received a sector newsletter which is almost certainly referring to this appointment.

I will remember this thread next time I'm tempted to open my big gob...

Good, I hope you remember the overwhelming support you had in the face of one or two people who, let's face it, if a feminist said the sky was blue, would decide it was yellow and stick to that doggedly!

Really good news about the new promotions as well.

Ballsy move OP

A ratio of 24:1 in a field where there are pretty much as many men as women is very odd indeed, well done for pointing it out! And good news on the recent promotions!

Great news.

Showed your mail to DH. He's a senior manager (not accountancy). His reaction was no big deal about writing the mail, it's industry wide issue and no response is perhaps because he is aware and there is just nothing to say. Anyway whatever the reaction of the company you're clearly intelligent, principled and highly employable. No biggie. From my PoV it is great you have asserted yourself to start to correct the disparity of feeling like a minion when you are in fact a qualified accountant.

If we all acted a bit more like Captain at times then I think we'd see change a lot sooner. However, like many others, I frequently put personal self interest above doing the right thing which is why I think that OP's email was a brave thing to do, even if it's not the action I'd take myself (hypocrite that I am!)

Also, just to respond to Italian's point - it is VERY easy when it comes to promotions for companies to end up with highly qualified and competent white men in senior positions whilst having lower rungs full of women and people of colour. It is very difficult to challenge because it's not that the promotions are going to some who doesn't merit it, but that unconscious bias looks at 5 equally capable candidates and chooses the one who "fits".

Unfortunately, where I work also seems to have a policy of promoting complete idiots who look and sound right over genuinely competent women / gay men / anyone who isn't white and doesn't have RP English.

Having read a number of people express the idea that this action was in some way dangerous or unsafe or unwise I am very worried for the women of this ad every nation if we are so worried about what the menz will say or think. Companies or organisations that are systematically racist should be well aware that they will be challenged. Should this not also be the case for organisations that are sexist?

CaptainWentworth brilliant email and brave (and sensible move). If the company make life difficult for you as a result of this very polite and factually (one would imagine) email. If they do and in the long run you feel you just can't get on in the company you can move. I am assuming you do not live in a place with only one employer!

Plus if they were to really make life difficult for you, you may consider suing for constructive dismissal!

Quite surprised some people think you over stepped the mark, wonder if people think that when men point stuff out!

I work in a place where one can politely express an opinion and I find it a bit sad that anyone can't do that in their place of employment. Almost as if we are not in the 21st century!

It was very brave of you to call this out.

Perhaps if more people did this we would see the requisite change much sooner.

But let's keep our heads down, fight our own battles alone if we really must and wait for the men to say "no, I don't deserve this promotion/pay rise , give it to her". I'm sure that's going to happen any minute now...

Honestly - good for you. At a ratio of 24:1 either your firm is unable to attract and retain talented women (which is a problem) or they are being discriminated against when it comes to promotion at a senior level (which is a problem). What other conclusions can you draw?

Captain I have expressed my views on gender equality quite frankly to any number of my colleagues (mostly male) at any level of the hierarchy and they are still speaking to me. I optimistically hope that they agree with me and next time there is a chance to make a different decision they will think about it.

Who knows? But one does what one has to do. Others must do as they must.
(Cod-philosophical statement of the day #3459.)

I don't think she has endangered her position. There is plenty of employment law to protect her and this should not have any bearing on whether OP is doing her actual job properly. There's nothing in her email which could justify her employer taking any action. Employers don't actually want to get embroiled in sex discrimination cases.

Imagine me saying that it was heroic, in a tone that implies that heroes are stupid, and you have my opinion in a nutshell.

It needed saying, but you probably endangered your position by saying it.

You are a brave woman and I admire you, but I can't say it was exactly a clever thing to do.

Incidentally Cap'n - I've worked at senior levels in Big Four firms for 20 years which is colouring my perspective. Law firms tend to be more hierarchical and old fashioned than accountancy firms in my experience.

If your manager is a decent one he will recognise the disparity and ask you what you think could be done to address it.

It's about maximizing women's potential because otherwise you're wasting talent.

Another well done from me.

The wording was good. Not flippant or disrespectful but polite and non-accusatory.

I don't think this was a stupid thing to do.

I think it will either mark you out as a trouble maker, as some of the posters on this thread have said and if that is the case, then you know to start planning now to move to a better firm where the ethos is better, or it will mark you out as someone who has the courage to speak her mind to people who are her seniors, not just her peers and juniors and is willing to constructively engage in feedback, instead of just sitting there and sneering about how senior management gets everything wrong, without telling them how they're getting it wrong.

Well done.