Leader comment: The UK needs to work on gender equality

Many women are afraid to ask for a pay rise because they lack confidence in the workplace

A survey's finding that nearly three-quarters of women do not feel confident at work is a further sign of the lack of gender equality in Britain.

That 27 per cent of women found it difficult to deal with “being intimidated by my boss and other colleagues” is an indictment of the way many companies are run. One researcher spoke of how “masculinist norms” had created workplaces that undermined women’s self-confidence. Once such talk might have been dismissed, but the MeToo movement has fundamentally changed the discussion.

It remains to be seen how long it will take society to catch up.

The decision by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal to impose no sanction on an Elgin surgeon found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct towards a junior doctor after he spoke about his behaviour to other NHS staff may or may not be the correct one.

But the charity Zero Tolerance was correct when it warned the way an organisation handles sexual harassment “sends a powerful message about how its female employees are valued”.