The worst enemy of women in business is women in politics
I’ve commented on Neelie Kroes’ and Viviane Reding’s EU desire to get more women into the higher echelons of business (Net neutrality and business gender neutrality in the EU) and absolutely endorse the intent. Here in the UK we have our own poor man’s (sorry about the sexism) Kroes/Reding double act in the Harman/Cooper comedy pairing.
Tomorrow, with thanks to Guido pointing to the excellent WomenOn blog, Harman/Cooper will be hosting a ladies-only meeting + Ed Miliband. Guido, of course, sees the funny side of things:
…Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper are hosting a ‘What Women Want’ meeting tomorrow at Labour Party conference. What they apparently don’t want is men at the meeting. However Mrs Dromey and Mrs Balls are giving Ed Miliband a sex change for the day and making him an honorary woman so that he can address the meeting of the wimmin.
Ed Miliband to Have Sex Change Tomorrow
WomenOn sees the tragic side:
This is an outrage… It makes all those involved look out-of-touch, but more importantly, it does untold damage to the cause of equality for women. Why should men support equality for women if they are treated in this way?
Men, know your place! Harriet Harman doesn’t want to hear you
And that’s what it is: funny and tragic. The tragedy is that serious businessmen will continue to consider women as a lunatic fringe. All the good work done by Kroes/Reding, and indeed WomenOn, will be undone by the absurdly funny Harman/Cooper double act.