National institutions should be leading the way on hiring women for top jobs

The announcement of another male director for the National History Museum is a missed opportunity, writes Janet Street-Porter

Friday 19 June 2020 20:39 BST
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The Natural History Museum has selected a new director – and it's a man
The Natural History Museum has selected a new director – and it's a man

The new director of the Natural History Museum is Doug Gurr, the current UK boss of Amazon.

A controversial appointment, given his former employer’s role in generating a massive amount of packaging and increased transport use which surely must impact on the natural world.

Are museums, post-coronavirus more concerned with developing digitally than offering unforgettable experiences in the real world? Growing up a few miles away, I spent hours each week in the museum. It’s a magical place for any child to experience.

Previously Dr Gurr was development director at Asda before moving to Amazon in 2011 where he ran operations in China before becoming the UK chief in 2016. I should declare an interest, we served as trustees of the Science Museum for several years.

The Natural History Museum is the fourth most popular attraction in the UK, but this appointment could be an opportunity lost – only four of the museum’s board of 12 trustees are female, and there has never been a female director. Of the 45 largest national and regional museums in the UK only 12 are led by women, although 605 of the staff who work in them are female.

Brilliant women are running some major museums – Maria Balshaw at the Tate, Diana Lees at the Imperial War Museum and Janet Vitmayer at the Horniman, but national institutions like the Natural History Museum, the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum always seem to find it hard to find a female up to the job.

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