The words men, power and leader go hand-in-hand. It is the way the world has generally been. Despite 100 years of emancipation, not much has changed. Female political leaders are still a rarity, and many who do succeed appear to have to be as macho as a man.
It is even more marked in big business. Only one tenth of FTSE 100 executive directors are women and only one twentieth of CEOs are. An appalling statistic – there are more male CEOs called John than there are female CEOs. By mid-career, women’s aspiration and confidence erodes, while men’s doubles. Women are too often without support and encouragement – compared to men on their way up – and told (by men) that they are “not cut out for power and leadership”. And when women, as well as men, struggle for the same positions, they are seen as weak, passive and often unwelcome.