Email newsletter

HR news and jobs direct to your inbox

Recruitment Marketing Awards

The 2012 Recruitment Marketing Awards launch in February – check out last year’s winners

Jobs - HR job search

International HR jobs
HR manager jobs
HR director jobs

Site map

Search and Subject Links

Quick links to subjects:

Search People Management

This site is the online magazine for the CIPD Opens in a new window

Resigned to inequalities?

Comment

Comment on the blogs

Become a member

Lucy Phillips

24 Sep 2008 | 15:55

Forward to a colleague

Colleague’s email address

Your name

Your email address

Personal message
(Maximum of 120 characters)

Articles more than one month old can be viewed only by CIPD members or PM Subscribers.

I was disappointed by today’s announcement that Ruth Kelly is to leave the Cabinet. Not because I think she’s a fantastic minister (there are very few of those about at the moment), but I was sad to hear her reasons behind the decision. Stepping back to spend more time with her family sends out a message that it is not possible to combine motherhood with a senior government position. While I applaud her for lasting this long (combining taking care of four children under the age of 11 and such a high-profile position is no mean feat), her resignation says much about female career progression and the gender pay gap associated with it. If the government can’t put its own house in order and allow women the flexibility required to combine a top job and a family, what hope do other employers have? Undoubtedly, business needs more female role models and, unfortunately, women MPs have just lost a major one. For this reason, I can only hope that her family was the real reason behind her exit, and not any rift with the leadership or policy direction as some commentators have indicated. It would be a cruel blow to women’s rights otherwise.

To post your comment you have to login

Username

Password

Forgotten your log in details?

Not registered on PM or CIPD?

To post a comments you need to be a CIPD member of PM subscriber
Registration will be on the CIPD site

Bookmark and share

What are these?

HR blogs delivered to you by RSS
What is RSS

Links open in new window

Get listed: To include your own link here contact the PM advertising team.

About the editors

Apprenticeships that work

New guidance to help you in developing high-quality apprenticeships

HRD Conference 2012

Add value to your business with practical L&D solutions from HRD

Links open in new window

People Management neither recommends, nor is responsible for, the content of external sites listed here.

Your link here: contact the PM sales team.

It’s untenable to have a normal retirement age in public-sector schemes that is significantly different from the state retirement age

Brian Bailey, Director of pensions, West Midlands Pension Fund and member of High Pay Commission