I was lucky enough last week to attend the First Women Awards launch event, an award instigated by Caspian Publishing to recognise “glass ceiling breakers”. (www.firstwomenawards.co.uk)
There, at a rather ordinary event dinner, we heard rather an extraordinary speaker: Baroness Sarah Hogg.
As one of the few women to occupy a board place on a FTSE 100 company, and within a business community traditionally occupied by men, you could expect Baroness Hogg to be intimidating to say the least. Instead, she charmed the audience for at least 30 minutes revealing very personal anecdotes of the challenges she had faced throughout her varied business career. She started by referencing Allison Pearson’s “I don’t know how she does it”, a book so well read by every professional mother, to set the theme for the juggling act that life’s mix of roles had presented her with.
Whilst working as an economics editor, she had been accused of abandoning her kids by fellow journalists – even though her children were already at university! Working as an advisor in John Major’s office, even her very supportive mother had sought to call her for a chat every night “because your brother is at work”! And finally, the most heart-rendering tale was of how she heard of the career sacrifice her husband had made (again, through the press!) to enable her to progress her own.
She made two very interesting observations. Firstly, how mothers having to do school runs in the 80s would have been the first in the office, yet now, alas, they are likely to be the last. I can certainly testify to that. I too do the walk of shame through the office, even though I feel like I have already done half a day’s work. Globalisation and an Internet culture have had a positive as well as negative impact on working parents and organisation skills have got to be second to none to meet childcare and work demands.
And secondly, just before I start to sound too feminist here, the fact that men too, sharing the responsibility more with paternity leave and nursery/nanny pick ups and drop offs, are also impacted by combining the demands of parenthood and their careers. I know just walking to the nursery with some of the dads, be they accountants, management consultants, or doctors, they all wear that same stressed, worried and “not enough time in the day” look I have become so familiar with when I look in the mirror.
But enough of the story of woe. I started on a story of courage and achievement. And Baroness Hogg certainly personifies those things. She is a beacon not just to women, but also professionals and parents alike, and personally speaking, fitting into all of those three categories, I don’t think there can ever be enough of them.
So thanks for sharing your story and here’s to far more women doing it.
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