Women in Business

Generational Shift

Historically, British women spent their time raising children and walking to the local high street (main street) to buy daily rations of meat, vegetables and bread. Today, more women are working, and some of them are holding decidedly nontraditional jobs — from taxi drivers to chief financial officers. Surveys show that British men are not eager to share equally in the housework, and anecdotal evidence indicates that many of them still have difficulty taking direction from a female boss or manager.

Britain is still very much a man's world, with the old boy network still ruling over government, industry and business. (Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is the outstanding exception to the rule. It's noteworthy that her successor in 1990, John Major, omitted women from his cabinet.) As in many other countries, however, there is a generational divide: younger men are often much more amenable to working with women than older men. Not that there is always an obvious disrespect or disregard for the skills of working women. It's just that many British businessmen of a certain age and social status approach anyone who is not “one of us” with the same aloofness and vague mistrust.

However, the emphasis is on change. As opportunities for British women gradually increase, British men are learning to live with it, and even to take on traditional female roles themselves — whether working as nurses or doing the family laundry on Saturday mornings.

Working women are entitled to a maximum of eighteen weeks maternity leave (more than France, Germany or the U.S., but less than Italy ). Most receive weekly benefits (other than salary) from employers based on up to 90 percent of their average earnings for six weeks, and about US$85 per week for the next twelve.

In Process: New Girl Network

Women constitute almost half the work force, and the most visible among them are entrepreneurs (often involved in some aspect of consumer retailing) or women who work in support positions (often in finance, marketing or communications).

Some cracks are showing in the so-called “glass ceiling” that excludes women from top management position — but not many. And it doesn't appear that that will change significantly in the near future.

Interestingly, many British women are creating their own version of the old boy network, with an emphasis on mutual support and networking for causes ranging from more job opportunities to company-supported day-care centers.

Late-Night Shopping — A New Trend

The expansion of the female work force has created changes throughout British society One of the biggest has been in the transformation of the retail sector. Not so long ago, late-night shopping in Britain meant the one evening a week when some of the shops stayed open until 8 P.M. Now, most Britons can buy groceries or clothes or auto supplies until 8 or 9 PM. most evenings, and many superstores — large emporiums that sell groceries, hardware supplies, home furnishings and dry goods all under one roof — routinely stay open until 11 P.M. And after centuries of “blue laws” that kept most stores closed from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning, Sunday shopping has become fairly commonplace. Delivery services and mail order are two other areas that have boomed in recent years, as more British households have two full-time wage earners, neither of whom has the time to run errands during the day.

Strategies for Businesswomen

After being ruled by a woman as dynamic as Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, it is remarkable that British women haven't progressed farther in business. However, it's been said that Britain is at least ten years behind the United States in terms of feminism in general and business opportunities for women in particular.

Foreign women doing business in Britain need to strike a series of balances. On the one hand, don't try to be one of the good old boys; you'll inevitably look, and probably feel, foolish. On the other hand, don't try to be too feminine; flirts may find British men reluctant to think of them in any other way. At the same time, a hard-edge, all-business facade may be seen as stern or brusque, and too mannish. Finding the right balance may prove difficult, particularly when dealing with the many British businessmen who interpret any sort of assertiveness as overt aggression.

Keep an open mind. The discrimination you feel may be due to the fact that you're foreign, rather than female. But that doesn't make apparent patronizing or condescending behavior or comments any easier to take. Even experienced British businessmen sometimes assume that the woman in the group must be there to take notes, or at best, is a communications or public relations manager. More difficult than the obvious slights are the instances when visiting businesswomen sense that British businessmen are merely biding their time until they can get to speak with the woman's boss — a man, presumably—and really get down to business.

Here's an important tip for dealing with British businesswomen: if you don't know which honorific (Mrs. Miss, Ms.) a woman prefers, don't assume that it's permissible to address her, either in speech or on paper, as Ms. The vast majority of British women use Miss or Mrs. The woman in question may be offended and she will, at the very least, categorize you as presumptive.