We believe we are all aware and conscious of discrimination in all forms and if we choose to be discriminatory we are aware of our actions. Oh how wrong can we be. No more Boys and Girls was the best examples of this and the quite brilliant Dr Javid Abdelmoneim articulated and demonstrated brilliant the differences we sub-consciously exhibit everyday in everything we do. Passing this on from generation to generation. A Must watch if you get the chance to see.
As a doctor he knows that there basic biological differences between the sexes, but beyond that there is no evidence other than learned behaviour to explain the under achievement of females beyond education.
Then the great documentary the other week delivered by Anne Robinson The trouble with Women highlighted the same thing. Another good watch.
Sub-conscious bias + lacking in self belief and confidence + traditional ways of doing business = Too few women in senior positions.
One of our members relayed a story her brother tells of trying to get an equal amount of women in the orchestra he managed. They tried putting candidates behind a screen and getting them to play, but that did not work because sub-consciously the panel could guess the gait as the candidate walked in and sat down. The only way they managed to achieve true equality was to play un-named demo tapes from the candidates and low and behold the orchestra now has an equal number of men and women, not withstanding the added bonus of ethnic diversity that came out of the same exercise.