Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEquality, diversity and inclusion

Birmingham City football club boss Karren Brady calls on women to take on more unconventional jobs

by Louisa Peacock 27 Jul 2007
by Louisa Peacock 27 Jul 2007

Birmingham City football club’s female boss has urged women to challenge traditional career stereotypes and take up more unconventional roles, to help in Britain’s looming skills shortage.

Karren Brady, the first woman managing director of Birmingham City FC, has called on women to take advantage of new recruitment and career opportunities offered in the second phase of the government’s Women & Work Project, aimed at giving women the chance to improve their skills and careers.

Brady hopes the £10m scheme to help more than 10,000 women secure better training and support to fulfil their potential, introduced last September, will breakdown the barriers of women advancing in non-traditional roles.

On her way to meet the skills minister David Lammy, Brady told Personnel Today she was looking forward to discussing what the remaining challenges are.

She said: “What I’d really like to see is that the scheme is very much over-subscribed, so the government keeps going, because the money runs out in March 2008.

She added: “Women are not fulfilling their potential. The problem is that women work in only 12 occupational areas, including cleaning, catering, caring and clerical.

“Lots of women don’t think about football; they don’t think about construction as a career path. Really it’s about opening people’s minds to make them realise these are male traditional jobs but they don’t need to be. They’re well paid and highly skilled, so get the training you need to compete in them.”

She added: “We want to help women to come more into the male-dominated environments – the engineering and construction sectors – it’s really crucial that we break down perceptions of women so women can take control of their careers.”

Brady added that three-quarters of her management team are women, including an HR director that started with the company when she was 16.

She also denied there were any bad practices in employing women into non-traditional environments.

“It’s a misconception that these male worlds are full of these terrible men who are going to short you down at the first opportunity.

“I’ve worked in two very male-dominated communities – media and football. Your male colleagues are going to help – they adapt and work better with women around them.”

The gender pay gap

Brady said that mandatory pay audits are a good step towards addressing the gender pay gap, contrary to the proposals in the Discrimination Law Review Green Paper.

“In senior positions we need to take the lead in closing those gaps and making sure it doesn’t happen in those industries. Mandatory pay audits is a good step in addressing the balance. But individuals must take responsibilities in a commercial organisation to ensure that equal pay for equal work,” she said.

Avatar
Louisa Peacock

previous post
MacMillan fined over consultation regulations failings in landmark case
next post
Conservative MP Boris Johnson claims government must improve transport system to help London commuters get to work

You may also like

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Why Can’t Managers Manage? Chris Roebuck talks to...

27 May 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Menopausal worker loses sex and disability discrimination claim

27 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

Age remains a barrier to upskilling finds research

27 May 2022

‘Inequality is embedded in our labour market’ says...

27 May 2022

More than £1bn of upskilling loan money has...

26 May 2022

Monkeypox advice for employers: working from home and...

26 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+