Act like a man and do the honourable thing

Sir Gus O’Donnell may be setting targets for diversity, such as the gender pay gap and the proportion of women in senior management, but what impact will this have on the significant under-representation of men in the Civil Service and in local authorities? (Personnel Today, 8 November).

The message to the declining number of men in the public sector is that your career advancement will threaten the bonus your boss will receive.

ew men will doubt that they will be overlooked in favour of their female colleagues, regardless of performance or experience.

This is not the way to address one of the largest gender gaps in the country – the fact that four out of every five jobs in local authorities, one of the UK’s largest employers, are already held by women.

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If gender equality is to be anything more than a code for women’s rights, O’Donnell should set targets to redress this imbalance as well as dealing with the glass ceiling issues faced by women – and resign if he fails to deliver.

Alan Barry
Personnel officer (policy and strategy)
Devon County Council