Letter of the City. Sometimes, the obvious is in front of us but it is no longer seen. So – mea culpa – it took a banker to French me the tip of the finger so that the truth appears in my view : the City, in the streets, everything is organized for the men.
The statistics are known. In the United Kingdom, according to the think-tank New Financial, only 14% of the members of the management boards of financial firms are women (France is at about the same level, 16 %, compared with 34 % in Scandinavia). The dunceís cap returns to private equity (10 %) and hedge funds (11 %). Under pressure for the past few years, the boards have made an effort, but the proportion is still only 23 %.
A whiff of the gifts purchased by these gentlemen
But there is no need to do serious statistical calculations to find out. “Take a stroll to the City : all the stores are for men. There is a hairdressers for men, shops full of clothing for men. Impossible to do the lesser race “, points out that a banker, who wished to remain anonymous. She arrived in London four years ago, and the difference with Paris, he jumped to the eyes.
Small demonstration on a Tuesday at the end of the day, at the Royal Exchange, an old building converted into cafés and shops, located in front of the Bank of England, in the heart of the City. The parade of storefronts is without appeal : a shoe store for men, another for glasses, with a shelf for a woman almost non-existent, a third cosmetic for man, a fourth of bags, leather…
And when the products are for women, there is like a smell of the gifts purchased by these gentlemen on the way back home, with a lot of jewelers. Inside the building, colleagues at the office take a glass after work : at 18 hours, on this day, we found forty men…
