Reply to: Harman 'literally bonkers'

[chetty]

Bonkers = Doolally

Did you know that the work doolally is derived from the camp set up by the Britishers in the town of Deolali in India? The term reflects the mental state of these soldiers before they went back to Brian.

[snaw]

There is a simple reason why women do not make it to the top levels as often as men and that is because a large chunk have their careers scuppred by having kids. To me having kids is a matter of personal choice and so is the way they are cared for. If a woman or a man wants to take say 10 years out of their career to raise a family then good for them. However I think it is totally unfair to expect special treatment when they get back onto their chosen career. I think it is totally unfair that a woman (or man) who has taken time out should benefit from positive discrimmination to simply meet an objective of getting a set percentage of women to the higher levels in a company.

I think it's a tough one, I said already I'm not a big fan of positive discrimination - but I think it's healthy to have a mixture of men and women in decision making roles in a company. Too many men for sure isn't healthy.

Ever worked in, or been near, a trade floor? Way too many alpha males and testosterone flying around in those environments - no wonder we ended up in such a FUBAR'd situation, those environments encourage risky behaviour - a more balanced environment and I'm sure we'd have had different end results ...

[snaw]

Maybe, but let us not forget that many of the top women leave the workplace at their peak to have sprogs. Nothing wrong with that, perfectly right and natural IMHO. Tragically it is something that is often left out when the feminist lobby get on their soapboxes and start spouting their slightly disingenuous statistics though.

That's definitely a factor, but it's not the whole story, nor equally should it discount them later in their careers (Though you're almost certainly right saying that it does).

I think the statistics have a point - adjusting for women having babies doesn't account for why most boards, and most of the top jobs are overwhelmingly populated by white men, from a particular kind of background ... and having seen a few of them up close, it sure as tulip isn't because they're particularly talented.

[BoredBloke]

There is a simple reason why women do not make it to the top levels as often as men and that is because a large chunk have their careers scuppred by having kids. To me having kids is a matter of personal choice and so is the way they are cared for. If a woman or a man wants to take say 10 years out of their career to raise a family then good for them. However I think it is totally unfair to expect special treatment when they get back onto their chosen career. I think it is totally unfair that a woman (or man) who has taken time out should benefit from positive discrimmination to simply meet an objective of getting a set percentage of women to the higher levels in a company.

[shaunbhoy]

Never said they don't, but I think men are better at it in a corporate sense. Just my 2c as to why there are more men at the top jobs than women - and that's based on my belief that getting to the top doesn't really have a lot to do with ability, in the best 'man' for the job sense.

Maybe, but let us not forget that many of the top women leave the workplace at their peak to have sprogs. Nothing wrong with that, perfectly right and natural IMHO. Tragically it is something that is often left out when the feminist lobby get on their soapboxes and start spouting their slightly disingenuous statistics though.

[ratewhore]

Really?

Utter bollocks. Talent and ability very rarely get you far in a company, playing dirty, the right connections and nights out with the boys in strip clubs however ...

Got me to the very top of my company...

Stop whinging, life's a bitch sometimes...

[snaw]

You have been very fortunate, snaw, if you have not encountered any women that are supremely adept at "playing dirty".

Never said they don't, but I think men are better at it in a corporate sense. Just my 2c as to why there are more men at the top jobs than women - and that's based on my belief that getting to the top doesn't really have a lot to do with ability, in the best 'man' for the job sense.

[Menelaus]

My problem with Harperson is that on a tour of her own constituency she wore a stab vest - I mean, wtf? If she can't trust her own constituents (admittedly, in Peckham) to not stab her, why should we trust her?

[shaunbhoy]

Really?

Utter bollocks. Talent and ability very rarely get you far in a company, playing dirty, the right connections and nights out with the boys in strip clubs however ...

You have been very fortunate, snaw, if you have not encountered any women that are supremely adept at "playing dirty".

[snaw]

There is. It's called displaying talent and ability.

Really?

Utter bollocks. Talent and ability very rarely get you far in a company, playing dirty, the right connections and nights out with the boys in strip clubs however ...

[shaunbhoy]

<ZG in reading "The Victor" mode>

Ah yes, the Victor. Morgyn the Mighty fighting a different giant Anaconda every week. They don't write 'em like that anymore!

[ratewhore]

Equally I think there should be a way of ensuring that more women are involved at the top level.

There is. It's called displaying talent and ability.

[DimPrawn]

Haven't we already done the get-back-in-the-kitchen-love thing this week?

Mine's two sugars. Ta.

[cailin maith]

Either your puppetmaster hasn't been around long enough to know any better, or he/she has no respect whatsoever.

WHS

[realityhack]

I thinks it's funny that you Britishers criticize us Indians for our spelling when your very own Spelling smiley is spelled incorrectly. Very funny indeed!

Either your puppetmaster hasn't been around long enough to know any better, or he/she has no respect whatsoever.