Margaret Clayton: Frazzled, frustrated and fed-up…but equality was never going to be easy

JOANNA Trollope was talking this week about her latest novel City Of Friends, which tells the stories of four best pals who work in the financial sector.

I enjoy her books about life, love and families – but it was what the best-selling writer said about the problems facing working women today that struck me.

“As a woman in the workplace it’s still tougher to be recognised, accepted and valued than it is for men,” she said.

“There has been progress over the years – but there are still many hurdles to be overcome.”

She’s right. On the surface it looks like women have it all.

Equality has meant we have more choices and opportunities
– but very often there is still an underlying prejudice against women who are coping with the difficult balancing act of holding down a job, raising children, keeping everyone happy and being true to themselves.

Every working woman I know gets frazzled, frustrated and fed-
up at times with the pressures.

But it was what we wanted, wasn’t it? The chance to use our talents to do a job we cared about.

Then there’s the small question of male prejudice in the workplace. How often are women overlooked for promotion? How often are they listened to or ignored when they voice an opinion or suggest a different
way of looking at things?

Well, if my friends are anything to go by, this is still fairly in common in a wide variety of professions. Men today are a bit smarter at hiding their unease around a strong woman with a clear vision – but scratch the surface and the bias is there.

When I first started work as
an eager 18-year-old trainee journalist in the ’60s I was told
I could cover golden weddings, bonny baby competitions and anything “quirky” like someone with an unusual hobby.

The men in the newsroom were, of course, doing “real” stuff like covering council meetings and the courts. Thankfully, in journalism, that has changed – and women today report from war zones, interview politicians and write strong, insightful pieces.

But there are still very few female editors in newspapers. Why not?

My female friends who work in teaching, social work, hospitals and a variety of businesses say they regularly have a struggle against a subtle form of male bias.

Why is this?

We owe so much to those pioneering women of grit and determination who started the process. But the struggle isn’t over. Far from it.

We need strength and determination to ensure that, little by little, we do our bit to stand up for what we believe in and to have the confidence to make the working world a fairer, more inclusive place.

It isn’t easy – but nothing worthwhile ever was.