Head-banging or acumen

Alfred Sant is right. Writing in Wednesday's The Times he said: "I remain convinced that, on balance, gender quotas are good for society at large - if they are introduced and administered wisely".

However, like the petards and hunting, changes to anything that is a male preserve, make no headway here. Locally and internationally the male network is a hard one to break.

I have been banging my head against a brick wall, on quotas and trying to get the petards stopped, with little, if any, input from politicians, male or female, on both sides of the House.

So it is good to see at least one male politician seeing the light. My innate cynicism tells me that, perhaps, although there is no political mileage to be gained through antagonising the hunters and pyrotechnicians, the women's vote on the other hand could be a valuable asset.

However, it is to Dr Sant's credit that it is a male politician who is pushing for gender quotas. Ironically, it looks like, he is the only one to pick up on this current European issue.

But, like gender quotas, controls on petards and hunting would 'on balance' be "good for society at large, if introduced and administered wisely".

At least, bird slaughter is now getting a lot of public attention. Yet the hunters still have a powerful network. This was demonstrated when four suitcases of dead birds, which were being kept in storage at the abattoir as court exhibits, disappeared.

What is remarkable about this, is the lack of media attention at this concerning incident. All we got was a small item on the day the court exhibits went missing.

We were told that an inquiry was ordered and that the police were investigating. And that, as far as the media are concerned, was that. Compared to the media coverage when the haul was found, it was rather odd that its disappearance got so little attention.

I am sure the public is keen to know how the 'thieves' got in. Besides, was the fridge they were kept in secure? Were there signs of a break-in? Was it an inside job? Is the inquiry being treated urgently? Is the court case going to be dropped if the exhibits are not found? These are only a few pressing questions that need answering.

As for petards, we get spates of letters in the press and we got much response when we got people to sign a petition for Parliament to control them. But the parliamentarians are not interested. Their constituents might be suffering hardship, but heck, what are they supposed to do about it!

Now, let's get back to the Leader of the Opposition's support for gender quotas. Every country that now has a decent number of women representing them in their governments have achieved this through quotas.

Every foreign female politician who visits this country tells us this, and reading material backs it up. Yet even many females are still not convinced that it is the only way forward.

Coincidentally, BBC Prime, on Friday night, repeated, yet again, the Eighties Yes, Minister episode dealing with promoting women to the top jobs in the civil service.

However, unfortunately, the male network is still alive, well and unyielding, although everyone realises how the system is keeping women from achieving their full potential.

The Department of Women in Society should get copies of that TV programme and distribute them widely. There is nothing like humour to get the right messages across.

Even in countries where women are now making headway in government, the private sector is still lagging behind. According to Andrew Osborn, reporting for The Guardian from Oslo, on Thursday: "Blazing a trail for women's rights, egalitarian Norway is about to become the first country in the world to insist on female quotas for company boardrooms."

The Norwegian government has ordered firms to ensure that at least 40 per cent of their board members are women. State-owned firms have just 12 months to comply; the country's 650 public companies have three years. If they fail to meet the deadlines the government has said it will introduce legislation to enforce the quotas.

The move has come after calls, from successive governments to improve the situation where women make up a mere seven per cent (still higher than the European two per cent) of the boardroom elite, have come to nothing.

"Here in Norway we have what we call an old boys' network. The typical board member is male, over 55 years of age and has a background in law and economics. They collect people from their own network and that has to change," Laila Davoy, the Minister for Children and Family Affairs, told reporters.

Of course the old boys' network is alive and well all over the globe, not just in Norway, and I am sure that if women over 55 were to be suggested as suitable directors, age would be presented as yet another 'problem' despite their expertise in law, economics and other areas.

Predictably, employers and some businesswomen have been angered by this quota move, claiming (that old chestnut) that few qualified women are there to fill the posts. Now where have I heard this argument before?

Martin Bernsen, a spokesman for the Nowegian ministry, said that government research has shown otherwise. "We have proved that there are lots of educated, highly qualified women out there with the right experience. But firms have to go and look for them."

Informal gender quotas have existed in Norway since 1981 when Gro Harlem Brundtland, the country's first female prime minister, took power, and around 40 per cent of government posts have been held by women ever since.

At least the women in Norway have the unions on their side. They have been lobbying for female quotas for the past 20 years and were quoted as being delighted with the new decree.

Mie Opdordsmoen of LO, Norway's biggest union, said: "Companies need to be forced to hire more women or else they won't do it, and if things were left as they are today it would be 100 years before we have women making up 40 per cent of company boards."

Maybe Dr Sant could persuade the GWU to follow that example.

And it is not only Norway that is moving in the right direction. British companies, maybe pre-empting a similar move by their government, are trying another tack than quotas to give women a fair whack at the top jobs.

British Telecom have this month targeted 200 of its most senior women as part of a concerted campaign to promote them to its top management. The company launched a women's executive network which is aiming to increase the percentage of senior women inside BT each year. Last year 25 of its most senior female executives were put on an extensive training programme to try to speed up their progress towards the boardroom.

Now that is an inititative Jim Hacker would have approved of and Sir Humphrey would have done his utmost to sabotage.

According to a Guardian survey: women are still a tiny minority on UK boards. Only 15 of the 597 full-time directors of Britain's top FTSE 100 companies are women, and only one is a chief executive, despite government initiatives to encourage companies to promote more female employees.

Only three companies have two women in executive board-level roles - publishing group Pearson, owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Books, airports operator BAA, and Marks & Spencer.

More than 95 per cent of the most powerful posts in British business are still presided over by men. British Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt has been attempting to break down the male dominance of corporate culture by encouraging companies to offer more family-friendly policies to help women move up the career ladder. She has also urged companies to cast their nets wider when they are recruiting senior women as independent, part-time directors.

Echoing Laila Davoy, Ms Hewitt has now called for companies to look beyond the old boys' network for boardroom talent, especially at non-executive director level, and indicated that if companies do not make changes they may be forced to do so.

So how about it, boys? Are you going to do something about it? Granted, our government is not likely to force anyone into anything, but it looks like the EU means business on promoting women, and besides top business men are also realising that women at the top are good for business.

Marks and Spencer, which was going downhill fast, took a sharp upturn with a female finance director, a chief executive of its financial services business and women heading operations like design, communications, personnel and marketing.

Oil giant BP's chief executive, Lord Browne, believes the companies most likely to succeed are those that look beyond the pale, male and middle-aged for top management.

This contrasts sharply with the Norwegian businessmen who are baulking at the quotas, claiming they they will be less competitive and lose investment.

Legislated quota

Applicable to political parties. Examples include:

France: In 1999 a constitutional amendment was introduced requiring political parties to include 50 per cent representation of women on their party lists for election.

Argentina: In 1991 legislation was passed introducing an obligatory quota system in national elections - "lists must have, as a minimum, 30 per cent of women candidates and in proportions with possibilities of being elected. Any list not complying with these requisites shall not be approved."

South Africa: The Municipal Structures Act states that political parties must seek to ensure that women comprise 50 per cent of lists submitted for election at the local level.

Namibia: In 1992 and 1998 local authority elections, a legislated affirmative action provision required political parties to include at least 30 per cent women on their party candidate lists.

Reserved seats

Tanzania: 20 per cent of national seats, and 25 per cent of local government seats are reserved for women.

India: 33 per cent of seats at the local government level are reserved for women.

Party quota

Voluntarily adopted by political parties. Some examples include:

Sweden: In 1994 the Social Democratic Party introduced the principle of every second on the list, a woman - the zipper or zebra principle.

Norway: In 1983 Labour Party introduced 40 per cent quota.

Denmark: In 1988 the Social Democratic Party introduced a 40 per cent quota for local and regional elections.

South Africa: In 1994 the African National Congress implemented a 33.3 per cent quota.

Mozambique: In 1999 the Frelimo Party introduced a 30 per cent quota on electoral lists.

United Kingdom: In 1993 the Labour Party introduced all women short lists to ensure that women were selected for winnable seats in the 1997 election.

Sources: International IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers; and IPU, Politics: Women's Insight, 2000.