High-flying women: did they jump or were they pushed?

Jac Peeris, 35, also circumvented the glass ceiling by setting up her own dot.com company. ‘The Internet is a great leveller. Over time we will see the culture change. Technology and decentralisation will force change, there will be flatter organisations with less process, less bossy behaviour and less hierarchy. It’s in the world of new technology that the real challenges lie.’

Anita Roddick echoes the same sentiments in her book Business as Usual. ‘The picture I see is a lot of women leaving the corporate world. They just don’t like the system. Dot.coms can be run from home. Women are tired of remaining invisible as managers.’

No matter how many women quit the City to go it on their own, there still remains an overall dilemma in the wider workplace. ‘Business is facing a massive problem retaining the most talented members of 50% of the labour pool,’ says Debbie Sandford, managing director of Random House Children’s Books. ‘Companies need to address equal pay and childcare issues. Yet, rather than perceive this as a systemic, epidemiological issue, management often takes a very narrow, case-by-case view; something like ‘she just can’t hack it’. Or they struggle with the ‘glass ceiling’ imagery which, by its very nature, casts women as victims. By and large, we are not victims; we are making our own choices.’ She advises companies to take steps to focus more energy on staff retention, offering employees subsidised childcare, golden handcuffs for women who have babies, paternity leave and flexible hours.

Even in the thriving world of female-run enterprises, the UK is still sadly lagging behind. In the US half of new businesses are being set up by women, compared to only 35% here.

Such is the concern that the Government announced plans to give more support to women setting up on their own. This includes the creation of the £95 million Phoenix Trust for projects aimed at helping women setting up in businesses, and the launch of a new women’s online business centre.

Next page: changing times?