Why Women Need Quotas

Vicky Pryce's motorbike-riding mother wanted to study physics at university, but her family told her it was impossible for a woman. She was determined that her daughter would have the opportunities she hadn't - and the young Vicky went on to forge a glittering career as an economist, with high-profile posts spanning business, academia and government. But despite her own success, Pryce is still frustrated by the obstacles littering the paths of women in the workplace. We have an abysmal record on gender parity. Rwanda and Laos have more women in Parliament than Britain does. Massive pay gaps prevail across the professions. Senior positions are male-dominated in all walks of life - and not only at board level. Discrimination, a lack of role models and unconscious bias are all barriers to women climbing the career ladder - and that's even before counting the professional cost of starting a family. This isn't just a question of equality for women: by failing to remove the barriers to female progression, we're starving the UK of the talent it needs to grow and prosper to its full potential. Ultimately, Pryce argues, there is only one solution: women need quotas.

Auteur

Vicky Pryce is an economist and commentator. Following a number of positions in the banking and oil sectors, she worked as partner and chief economist at KPMG; was director general for economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; and was the joint head of the UK Government Economic Service. In 2000 she co-founded the Good Corporation to promote corporate social responsibility. She then worked as senior managing director at FTI Consulting and is currently chief economic adviser at the Centre for Economic and Business Research. Pryce holds a number of visiting professorships, including most recently at Birmingham City University and Aston University. She is the author of several publications, including Greekonomics and Prisonomics, and co-author of It's the Economy, Stupid: Economics for Voters, all published by Biteback. She was also the first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants. She lives in south London and has five children.