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Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee Report, ‘Women in the Workplace’

In December 2012, Peninah Thomson appeared before the Business, Innovation & Skills Select Committee to give oral evidence to the Committee for its Inquiry into Women in the Workplace. Peninah was questioned on a number of issues, including the work of the Foundation, her views on quotas, how SMEs are affected by measures to improve diversity and the importance of role models. Click here to read a full transcript of the proceedings.

  Click here to read the transcript

In its report, ‘Women in the Workplace’, the Committee cited evidence from The Mentoring Foundation based on its operation of the FTSE 100® Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, which highlighted how women’s perceptions of themselves can hold them back:

“In our experience stereotyping and women’s failure to progress to the top of large organisations result from complex and often invisible barriers such as lack of confidence, preconceptions about what it takes to succeed, lack of relevant role models for women and feelings of isolation and ambivalence. Interventions which tackle these root causes are needed and our work demonstrates that effective mentoring relationships with powerful business role models (both male and female) fulfil those needs and can bring about real change.”