Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be disappointed that the new CEO of the NCT is a man?

368 replies

ArcheryAnnie · 26/06/2015 23:29

The new CEO of the NCT is due to start work shortly - a man, Nick Wilkie.

The NCT's mission is to support parents during pregnancy, birth and early childhood. Their line re the new CEO is that men can be parents, but my line is that it's only women who get pregnant and give birth.

There are many, many senior, suitably qualified women in the UK who could perform this role. Furthermore, from my experience with the NCT, all the events I went to, it was women who do most of the work. I'm tired of organisations where women make up the majority of the volunteers, or the workers, but where a man is the CEO. I didn't expect it of the NCT.

AIBU to feel massively disappointed that the NCT are putting a man in charge?

OP posts:
AliceAnneB · 27/06/2015 08:14

No I wouldn't want a childless woman as the CEO of the NCT. To me they wouldn't have first hand experience of their area, so no. In most industries you, of course, need relevant and extensive experience to be appointed CEO. Or should any old person be eligible to be the CEO of any company?

Sansarya · 27/06/2015 08:19

NCT's board of trustees would've appointed the CEO. That's a board of 12 women and 15 men, plus the management team is mainly women. I think it's entirely possible that as martha said, the organisation was so tarred by the previous CEO that they've decided to go in a completely new direction.

duplodon · 27/06/2015 08:20

Childless women/woman who had birth with intervention = strawman. There isn't a society wide. longstanding problem with underrepresentation of childless women or women who have had birth with interventions in organisations staffed by childless women or women who have had birth with interventions.

It's about the politics of an organisation which campaigns on a particular platform not representing the majority make up of its membership in its leadership.In the States, there's recently been controversy about a leader in a black right's organisation being white and I know there's been similar in the past about straight people leading gay right's organisations. I'm sure those leaders were also fine candidates, but these decisions have political ramifications in terms of membership.

I'm astonished people don't see ANY issue with the overrepresentation of men in leadership and management positions in jobs and organisations where the membership is predominantly female. It's about proportionality not about the merits of one particular individual. There is lots of research that implicitly men and women are more biased towards men in interview eg likely to perceive him as more qualified by virtue of being male.

We do not live in an equal society. Look at the highest paid in society. Look at the proportion of women in high level management. Look at the make up of government. It's not a made up thing.

SophieHatters · 27/06/2015 08:20

If it's now a parenting organisation then it probably should look at changing its name.

TheXxed · 27/06/2015 08:21

YANBU! False equivalencies being thrown around on this thread. We do not live in an equal society. We live in a deeply patriarchal society, all things are not equal which is why we have to actively promote equality.

SophieHatters · 27/06/2015 08:22

I would not want anyone in charge of a childbirth charity who had not given birth tbh

duplodon · 27/06/2015 08:22

Also in the NHS and other organisations workers strongly resist leadership by people who don't have a clinical training and background.

It is very interesting that the board of the NCT has more men than women. Does this reflect the overall membership? If not, why not?

Sansarya · 27/06/2015 08:25

Sorry, I was typing too fast and didn't read my message before posting - it's 15 trustees - 12 women and 3 men!

TTWK · 27/06/2015 08:34

In most industries you, of course, need relevant and extensive experience to be appointed CEO.

Not of the industry you don't. You need experience of running a huge organisation. The CEO of a gas supplier needs to know nothing about gas, he or she has other people for that. But they need to know how to manage a global business with x number of staff and maximising shareholder return etc.

Look at the appointments made of large CEOs. You will see CEOs being appointed to a hotel chain who has been headhunted from an airline. It's perfectly common.

SoupDragon · 27/06/2015 08:35

I would not want anyone in charge of a childbirth charity who had not given birth tbh

So only someone who had suffered from cancer can head up a cancer charity?
Only someone who has suffered from heart disease can head up the BHF?

Really?

Timetodrive · 27/06/2015 08:37

TBH if the board was 12 women and 3 men then these are the people to be angry with, not the man who applied for a job and was successful. To criticise him and question his character is wrong.

PtolemysNeedle · 27/06/2015 08:40

There is no good reason why a man should have been discriminated against when applying for this role. None at all, and I find it really awful that people who claim to want equality think a man should be discriminated against. It's attitudes like yours that turn so many people off of feminism, as shown in the recent threads on the subject. You don't want equality, you want discrimination to work in your favour against someone else, and I find that a really horrible position to take.

If this man has the right values to accurately represent the NCT, as well as the qualifications and experience to think he could be a good CEO, then he's right for the job. I wouldn't assume the CEO of the national autistic society should automatically be autistic, or that the CEO of the MS society must have MS, this is no different.

lougle · 27/06/2015 08:43

YABU. If the best person for the job got the job, I don't care whether it's a man or a woman.

The NCT has been seriously out of touch for years and looking at his profile, NW will be a good thing for it.

DrDre · 27/06/2015 08:44

YABU. He's perfectly entitled to take the job and good luck to him. As someone else said, it is more of a parenting charity now than a childbirth one, and parenting is something that obviously affects both men and women. Legally they couldn't discriminate by gender anyway, so if he was the best candidate they had to appoint him.

DawnOfTheDoggers · 27/06/2015 08:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Roonerspism · 27/06/2015 08:58

TTWK perhaps that is true of a PLC whose main aim is to maximise return to shareholders.

But the NCT isn't a PLC and neither does it have shareholders. It has campaigned for legislative change in the past.

If you look at the massive under representation of women in senior management in UK, then that the NCT couldn't even achieve it speaks volumes.

The NCT does need a new direction. Can only a man achieve this?

PtolemysNeedle · 27/06/2015 09:04

A woman probably could achieve whatever it is the NCT currently needs, but that doesn't mean the role has to go to a woman if a man could do it too.

There is an under representation of women in senior management, but nobody ever stops to consider that part of the reason for that is that many women choose to take time out of their careers, or they choose to work part time, therefore not gaining the same level of experience as male colleagues. There are more men than women that want these roles, so it makes sense that there are more men than women actually doing them.

Roonerspism · 27/06/2015 09:06

ptolemysneedle sigh

SoupDragon · 27/06/2015 09:13

The NCT does need a new direction. Can only a man achieve this?

No, but out of the candidates perhaps Nick Wilkie was the person they thought could do it best.

SoupDragon · 27/06/2015 09:15

Beryl Hobson, chair of the NCT, said: "Nick has an impressive track record of making a difference for families, and the board is looking forward to working with him to expand our work in supporting every parent across the UK."

AlpacaPicnic · 27/06/2015 09:21

Yabu.
As others have said, the CEO is not there to pull on a pair of latex gloves and get on the labour ward. The position is to manage, to run, to hire excellent staff I imagine
The odds will have been skewed against him from the start... To succeed in such a role must mean that he has the skills and track record that they are looking for.

HermioneWeasley · 27/06/2015 09:21

Well OP I agree with you. I was gobsmacked, but DW who works for thr NCT and is a certified feminist is really excited about him, thinks he's got a great track record and will be really good at changing the image of the NCT has of only being for white middle class women.

I have no objection to the best candidate being appointed, but the concern is that disproportionately men are appointed, even in professions and organisations dominated by women. How can it be the case that the best candidate is ALWAYS a man?

I find it really hard to believe that in the sector of charities of this size there were no suitable women at all.

WorkingBling · 27/06/2015 09:23

The fact that he's a man is irrelevant in that of course he can lead the organisation. But where I instinctively agree with the op is the disturbing reality that in ann organisation largely filled with women workers it's still the man who got the job. What does that say about unconscious bias exercised by the interview panel. I would imagine far more women than men applied. And yet a man got it.

Here's an interesting stat I was reminded of recently - in the ftse 100 (or maybe 250, not sure) there are more men called john at board level than there are women...!

I suspect this man is well
Qualified. But I can't help
Questioning if he really was the best qualified or just the one they instinctively went for because he's a man and they didn't even realise how they are programmed to assume the man is better.

AlpacaPicnic · 27/06/2015 09:24

Oh, and I've met lots of women who've given birth. Some of them are excellent businesswomen, who could run a large company one day.

Some others couldn't find their arse with both hands and a map. They would be terrible at running a one-man band. Giving birth is not an indication of any qualities other than being able to produce a baby.

karmakameleon · 27/06/2015 09:26

many women choose to take time out of their careers, or they choose to work part time, therefore not gaining the same level of experience as male colleagues

And yet here is one CEO role where choosing to take time out should be direct and relevant experience and put you at an advantage but even here it people think it shouldn't count.