A few years earlier the decision would have raised eyebrows among senior executives at JSainsbury, where Hannah Bernard, 31, works as director of financial operations.
At the time, however, nobody was surprised. After finishing her maternity leave, she returned to work, leading a team of 250 people who manage Sainsbury’s back-office operations.
Bernard is typical of a new generation of women in British business, as revealed today in the “35 under 35” list of young achievers compiled by Management Today magazine.
What sets these women apart is that, as well as forging successful careers, they are determined to balance their personal lives with their lives at work and, for the first time, feel they can achieve this.
“For me, the challenge is how to balance the demands on my time,” said Bernard. “It really is difficult not to let work suffer and at the same time not allow your priorities to get warped by work.
Advertisement
“Until I had my daughter, work was a large part of my life and if I had to do extra hours I would just do it. Now I work more imaginatively. I leave work on time to get home and bath Gracie, then put her to bed and do some more work. I won’t let work compromise our relationship,” she said.
Without the support of her employer, Bernard would not have been able to achieve this balance, she said. “That’s why I am still here. I don’t feel there is a glass ceiling here.”
The wide range of industries represented on this list, which features those aged 35 and under, is testament to the success that young women are having in British business.
It includes entrepreneurs, senior lawyers and chief financial officers in companies as diverse as the oil giant Shell, law firm Slaughter and May, and Myla, which describes itself as “Britain’s first luxury sex brand”.
Getting on to the list was not easy. Nominations were garnered from companies, headhunters, think tanks and academics before being reduced to the final few by a panel of judges. They included Carolyn McCall, managing director of Guardian Newspapers, DeAnne Julius, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, and professors Val Singh and Susan Vinnicombe of Cranfield University’s Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders.
Advertisement
Just nine of those on the last list in 2003 are still there two years later. Previous high- profile names have included Stella McCartney, the fashion designer, and Ruth Kelly, now education secretary.
Jenny Watson, acting chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said the list was evidence of the progress women were making, but that obstacles remained. “The higher up in business you get, the fewer women there are,” she said.
Less than 10% of executive directorships at FTSE 100 companies are held by women. More than a fifth of top UK-listed companies have no women on the board.
“Women lose out when it gets to the point where they have to decide whether to raise a family,” said Watson. “Many would say they are pushed into making a choice and it’s not the case that they can have both.”
As a result, Britain’s private sector faces the challenge of how to retain female staff. If it does not respond, it risks losing talent at the senior level.
Advertisement
The reasons for women coming under pressure to choose between work and home are not confined to the boardroom. Karen Blackett, 33, marketing director at the media-buying agency Mediacom and one of the few to appear on the list in both 2003 and 2005, said: “Women are expected to have certain jobs and certain roles. It is easier for men because they expect to be able to rely on their partner to run the household, while for a senior woman it’s hard to have a high-powered job and fulfil the roles it is assumed you will do.”
There is evidence, however, that the world is changing. New research from Barclays Bank shows a sharp rise in the number of companies being founded by women alone. It reached 21,900 in the first quarter of this year, but this still trails the 78,600 set up by men.
Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, has also recently taken steps to increase the number of women in senior management. Jillian Easterbrook, 34, director for 18 Tesco superstores in south England, is another name on the “35 under 35” list. She said: “It’s about helping the business itself. It’s pretty obvious that if you have a team of people that are diverse and all the people that are leading that team are of a type, you won’t get the best out of them.”
She is also certain that, when she decides to have a family, the decision will not affect her work. “I don’t foresee it being an issue. Tesco will be very positive. I want to have both and that doesn’t faze me,” she said.
The world may be changing, but another of those on the list, Chrysi Philalithes, believes that women themselves can influence their working environment. As a founding member of Miva, an internet-advertising firm, she was instrumental in establishing a culture of mutual support within the company.
Advertisement
“One of our litmus tests in hiring people was: ‘good, they have the skills; great, they have the experience; but would I want to go for a drink with them?’ If not, we don’t hire them,” she said.
Being a young industry, the internet does not have the entrenched gender divisions that exist in older sectors. “Whether you are a man or woman shouldn’t matter, and here it doesn't matter,” said Philalithes, 33. “What matters are your ideas and ability.”
This relative independence has allowed Philalithes to achieve a balance between her work and her life outside the office, which she feels is equally important.
“My employers know exactly what I am like — I do give 100% to work, to family and to friends,” she said.