It's a tricky time for women in business right now. According to the Times last Sunday, the number of women directors in the FTSE 100 has fallen for the third consecutive year. Fifty-seven per cent of FTSE 100 firms have female directors, down from 64 per cent in 1999. Women comprise a mere 2 per cent of executive directors. So much for claims made by some male journalists that western countries are now dominated by power-crazy, law-supported females who are turning men into weakened versions of a once omnipotent sex.
I'm uncertain whether it is a reflection on women or on corporate structures that so many of us fail to make the breakthrough to senior management. I've known some truly able women in business but very few of them have made it to the top.
Some of them have admitted that it's really not worth the effort. And, of course, the ones that do succeed are supposed to be ruthless yet feminine, charming yet callous, perfectly groomed yet unglamorous. Maybe it really is simply asking too much - especially since the media also likes successful women to be good home-makers who make sure that they're always in the front seat of the school play and bake muffins at the weekend before sitting down with a laptop on one knee and a child on the other.
High-profile women have been in the news recently and they've been under the cosh. Carol Galley, a senior vice-president and co- chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has been quizzed in connection with the court case between Unilever Superannuation Fund and Merrill's (which at the time the dispute arose was Mercury Asset Managers). Unilever's pension fund is seeking £130 million compensation from MLIM for what it calls negligent management of its money.
The case would get publicity anyway but women seem to sell more newspapers than men and it's getting a lot of headlines. Especially since another women, Wendy Mayall, Unilever's pension fund chief investment officer, was giving evidence recently. The spectre of a cat-fight was raised as MLIM claimed that Wendy had asked Carol for advice on how to get a better media profile.
Wendy was, apparently, envious of Carol's good press. Wendy also said that Mercury were a bunch of City fat cats who sat around talking about luxury yachts and bonuses. Fat cats is one thing but no woman likes the word "fat" in any context! It's no wonder that Carol and Wendy eventually fell out.
The case is, of course, far more important than the relationship between the two women and at issue is Mercury's style of investment and its system of controls. This cuts to the chase of the whole realm of investment - if you have too many curbs in place then you'll find it difficult to engage in strategies that have the potential to outperform the market as much as your client wants. Fine, if you've got a conservative client who's happy with market-average performance. Hopeless if you have someone looking for much more.
Carol (well-groomed, attractive. . .) didn't actively manage the Unilever fund, although it was under her supervision. But the fund manager, Alistair Lennard, had his own style and Mercury was the kind of place that let people do their own thing.
Unfortunately, Alistair is now being dubbed a "wild card" fund manager. No fund manager wants the words "wild card" on his or her CV. You're a wild card when the strategy goes wrong. Until then you're an "investment guru". Anyway, Carol may still end up with guru on her CV but there's a way to go yet.
Meantime, in the US, Carly Fiorina is finding the going tough too. If you remember, she took the top job at Hewlett-Packard (HP) in September 1999 as one of only three women to lead a Fortune 500 company. She planned to do some radical restructuring on HP, a company that had lost out to the new technological kids on the block.
She proposed to acquire Compaq Computer for around $23 billion (€26.2 billion). The strategy wasn't embraced with open arms by either company or by Wall Street. But it has been moving ahead, with a proposed completion date of next year.
However, Walter Hewlett, son of the founder of HP, has filed a proxy statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission that states his opposition to the takeover.
The Hewlett family owns about 5 per cent of the company. The Packards, who set up a foundation that holds about 10 per cent of the company, haven't said how they'll vote, although one of co-founder David Packard's sons is against the move.
Carly had been flagged as the saviour of HP but it's looking less and less likely that things will go according to plan for her. She likes gardening and decorating in her spare time, but probably doesn't have too much of it right now. If the whole HP-Compaq deal unravels, she'll have a lot more.
When things go horribly wrong, are women more likely to throw in the towel than men? I don't know many women who give up easily but I do know that they're much quicker to cut their losses if a strategy isn't working and decide there are better things in life than worrying about a company that will have forgotten you in a few short months anyway.
All the same, successful women have the burden of the hopes of a lot of other women to carry too. And many of them are well aware of that fact, which is an added pressure.
Sometimes, though, successful women do it on their terms.
Anita Roddick's Body Shop may be up for sale but, she says, only at the right price and to someone with the right ethical considerations. JK Rowling is making tons of money from the Harry Potter movie and spin-offs, but the movie was made under strict guidelines, which meant that the producers had to follow the storyline of the book very closely and employ British actors.
I rather wish she'd put her foot down over some of the tasteless and tacky merchandising but I guess that even superwomen can't do everything.
