Emma Cowing: We've come too far for lipgloss to matter

Published on Monday 18 April 2011 15:31

WOMEN ARE awful. No really, we are. We bang on about sisterhood and equality and looking out for each other in a crisis, but put us in an office with a woman who's younger, prettier and has longer legs than us and we'll lash out faster than a spitting cobra.

At least, that's what a recent survey by the Royal Economic Society would have us believe. According to them, attractive women applying for jobs are being discriminated against by female recruiters. Affix a picture of a pretty face to your CV, says the report, and you're less likely to get an interview.

The researchers went on to say that the recruiters "were young and typically single, qualities more likely to be associated with a jealous response when confronted with a young, attractive competitor".

I'm impressed with these researchers. Clearly they work in an office whose environment resembles that of a drunken college party, where girls desperately compete to snog the best looking boy in the room, while a girl in the corner is crying because someone told her she looked fat.

And clearly these researchers - whose own sex remains shrouded in mystery - believe that this is how every woman sees the workplace, no matter how good they are at their jobs.

It is a depressing thought that there is still a breed of man (and yes, I do believe it is mainly men) out there who thinks that when it comes to a professional environment, women are incapable of acting as anything other than adolescents. That if you are a young, single woman who has risen to a position of authority where you are inspecting job candidates, the only thing you're going to judge them on is their lipgloss and how likely they are to show a bit of thigh to the (presumably male) boss. It is the most insulting thing I have read in a very long time.

Not that I don't think there is a grain of truth in this survey.

I have spent the past 14 years working in a male dominated industry. There is certainly a degree of competitiveness, and yes, even jealousy, but it's not about how attractive another woman is, it's how good she is at what she does. In an environment where few women make it to the top, women will naturally pit themselves against one another, because history has taught them that often there will only be one place up there for a woman. It's a battle that's easier to win than pitting yourself against a man - who has all the natural advantages that come with putting on a suit and tie each morning. It is a very ugly business, as far removed from the prettiness of a CV picture as any recruiter, male or female, could imagine.

Women, don't forget, have always had to try harder. In February, figures showed for the first time that almost half - 49.4 per cent - of the country's workforce was female. Yet women only account for 12.5 per cent of directors of FTSE 100 companies, and there is still a pay gap of 10.2 per cent between men and women.

Working is not a joke for women. It is a tough business, often juggled with family commitments in a working household. It is not a place to bring in petty jealousies or insecurities, but it can be a place where you will fight hard to hold on to what you have.

Those women (and they are, I believe, a minority) who do pit themselves against each other never win out in the end. I have worked with some superb female bosses, who have nurtured and encouraged the young women who work for them. I hope I did the same when I was a boss myself, not least because some day - hopefully - one of those young women might be my boss.

And this, ultimately, is the attitude that must be encouraged if women are to stop competing with each other in the workplace. The view - and it must come from the top - should be that there are room for as many women as possible, at all levels of management.

The research, incidentally, was carried out in Israel, one of the only countries where attaching a picture to one's CV is normal practice. In the UK, it is practically unheard of. Which means that here, we'll have to continue to decide who to give a job to by judging how competent they are. What a novel idea.