Women Chefs Chop to the Top

Back in the 1950s, British kitchen doyenne Fanny Cradock, was incensed by Raymond Oliver's views that women could not cook at the highest level, because they lacked the necessary discipline and self-confidence to be creative (no lack of old chestnuts on the menu there then). The theatrical prima donna, cooking in a ballgown ("only a slut needs an apron" she declared), held the French superstar TV chef and legendary owner of the 3 Michelin-starred Le Grand Vefour in Paris' Palais Royale to a draw in a cook-off in front of a large audience at the Cafe Royal in London. Fanny herself, however, was not herself a restauranteuse and it took another 50 years or so for a female UK chef to head a 3* Michelin kitchen - Clare Smyth, at the flagship restaurant of the far-from-mimsy Gordon Ramsay, no less. Ramsay also appointed the very-much-out-and-proud lesbian winner of 2012 Hell's Kitchen, Christina Wilson, as Head Chef of his
new venture Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Hotel Paris, Las Vegas. But
although 2011 saw a record 11 women holding head chef positions at Michelin starred restaurants in the UK, the overall scenario is of a male dominated profession - women hold less that 20% of the 187,000 chef posts. The Guardian illuminates. Raymond, btw, is no relation to Jamie, and yes, he did complain about the result.

The Women Who Oppose Female Bishops

The Women Who Oppose Female Bishops

We're used to the Glass Ceiling, and it's relatively rare for women who acknowledge its presence to express opposition to its removal. But the Stained Glass Ceiling is somewhat different. Women from within the Church of England who may be somewhat diffident about women priests are not hesitant about voicing their absolute opposition to female bishops. The Guardian elicits the views of the perhaps ironically named Emma Forward, a member of the Anglican Church's Synod (General Assembly) and Christina Rees, a campaigner for equality in the Church. An interesting video talk by feminist theologist Maureen Fiedler discussing her book Breaking the Stained Glass Ceiling: women Reliigous Leaders in their Own Words which contains interviews with female faith leaders can be found here.  Note that around 27 minutes in she notes that women hosted and performed the eucharist in the early church, which is counter-evidence against one of the main points offered by the women who oppose what they see as change in tradition, which now appears as a long-overdue return to the basic principles of the fledgling evangelical church. Nevertheless, it would probably take the discovery of an unknown female disciple (perhaps working in the kitchen at the Last Supper?) to shake the views of some of the more hardline fundamentalists.

Davies Report One Year On

Carolyn McCall (CEO Easyjet)                                             Angela Ahrendts ( CEO Burberry)        For my first post, my thanks to Elisabeth Morris for a link to a roundtable discussion hosted by the Financial Times on the anniversary of the Davies Report on women's representation at senior levels in major organizations (this complements the annual Sex and Power Reports produced by the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission). Lord (Mervyn) Davies holds the quite reasonable view that the current situation is unjustifiable. UK Business overall achieved around 10% a year ago, with the FTSE 100 improving from 12.2 to 15% this year. Yet despite this positive trend, there is less encouraging news from the FTSE 250 and signs that Davies target of 25% by 2015 could be a serious challenge. No surprise there for readers of the Female Footsie Report produced by Susan Vinnicombe and colleagues at Cranfield annually. The authors discuss the latest one in a video clip on the site.  And here's a very interesting report from Bloomberg Markets with interviews with female CEOs and international comparisons called Shaking up the Old Boys Club