Business View: Giving women top jobs doesn't mean that they're treated equally

Dividend dithering

Glass ceilings may have been shattered last week when Rachel Lomax became deputy governor of the Bank of England. But the perspex impediments that stop many women from rising further up the hierarchy into responsible, rewarding and highly paid jobs are, if anything, getting more common.

Consider the following recent events.

Louise Barton, the former Investec analyst, drops her case for sex discrimination, which came as a result of her junior getting a larger bonus than her. This was one of a number of sex discrimination cases in the City, most of which received a lot of publicity when they were brought. But the ones that failed only got a couple of paragraphs on page seven for the denoument.

The feeling among employment lawyers at the moment is that the employment tribunals are taking a stern view of these cases, worrying that some are being brought in the hope of embarrassing the employer into a settlement.

Last month Clara Furse, the chief executive of the Stock Exchange, was subject to a whispering campaign about her private life and less salacious criticisms about a £22m contract that seemed to do the Exchange no good at all. I'm sure she is doing a very good job. But if she isn't, it would be extremely difficult for the Exchange to replace her at this juncture.

Tomorrow, Dame Marjorie Scardino, the only female chief executive in the FTSE 100, will present some pretty poor figures at Pearson. She will have missed the targets she set, partly through no fault of her own, though also because she pressed the pedal to the floor when investing in the electronic delivery of information. Some are saying Dame Marjorie cannot be fired because she is a woman. This is almost certainly not the case, as it is too early to talk about her job being under threat. But as with Ms Furse, the more people talk about the importance of her sex, the less easy is it to carry out a sensible assessment of her achievements.

Which brings us to the central problem. After years of trying to get on to an even footing in the workplace – with employers taking sensible views on maternity leave, part-time working and career development – women are losing ground. If employers have to worry about someone's sex when they are deciding whether to fire someone, they will take it into account when they hire someone.

If Clara Furse or Dame Marjorie Scardino are not up to the job, they should be dismissed. It will be a positive move for working women.

Lloyds TSB increased it and its shares went down. Abbey National cut it and its shares went up. Prudential held it but said it may cut it in the future, and the insurer's shares were crucified.

The dividend is becoming a bigger bone of contention than Bush and Blair. With stocks no longer rising, fund managers are looking for any crumb of comfort in an aggressive bear market. The dividend payout is something they can cling to when they go into difficult meetings with pension fund trustees who are just itching to take away the management mandate and give it to some hotshot firm which claims it can get a better return.

Logic would dictate that anyone who cuts their dividend is punished. But this is not borne out by the facts. Lloyds TSB's increased payout was seen as a sign of insecurity, like wearing too much aftershave for a night on the pull. Abbey National's sharp reduction was seen as a sensible, prudent and, crucially, well-trailed move. The Pru, which is chaired by a former merchant banker and stuffed full of investment experts, did the worst thing possible. It said it might reduce its dividend. Given that its own director, Mike McLintock, had recently spoken about companies giving a strong message on dividends, this was a double-barrelled blast in the foot.

Although the dividend dithering may not be his fault, this incident is putting more pressure on the Pru's low-key chief executive, Jonathan Bloomer. Many wondered if the former accountant was too inexperienced when he took the job, and his leadership, especially when he nearly bought a US insurer two years ago, has been less than assured.

Having sorted out the uncertainty over its chairman, it may not be long before the Pru starts thinking about a more inspiring chief executive.

j.nisse@independent.co.uk