September 2011 archive

Having 3 children doesn’t have to damage your career

If you have time, do read these two online articles: the first, entitled ‘Working Moms: Women With Three Children Less Likely To Have Jobs Than Those With Two, Study Says’, reports on the findings of a research study in Australia, published in July, which looked at how women with more than two children were less …

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Re-forming the state education landscape in this country

There has of late been a whirlwind of activity in the field of national educational debate in the UK, with a drive on the part of Government to encourage independent schools to sponsor failing state schools as they become Academies – effectively, semi-independent state schools. (I say ‘semi-independent’ because I have yet to be convinced …

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The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling: do single-sex schools really make pupils more sexist?

I wish that I could gain access to the full study published in this month’s edition of Science journal which appears to conclude that single-sex education is bad, wrong, immoral, not worth it – you can imagine the tone. As the website of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, who publish Science does …

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Women’s depression rates: how can we prevent them rising further?

A relatively well-considered article in the Daily Mail last week drew attention again to the rise in the number of women who are being treated in this country for depression, and who are as a result of this diagnosis are being prescribed anti-depressants. As usual in the Daily Mail, it is important to read beyond …

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“I don’t know how she does it” … or do I?

Media and lifestyle critics have been engaged in a frenzy of comment these past couple of weeks over the film ‘I don’t know how she does it’, based on the 2002 bestseller book of the same title by Allison Pearson. The film stars Sarah Jessica Parker as the heroine Kate Reddy, who balances (or doesn’t) …

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Kofi Annan, children’s radio, and the immense power of charitable action

On Saturday morning I had the tremendous privilege of hearing Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, in conversation with Edward Mortimer, Trustee of the Children’s Radio Foundation, at the University Church in Oxford, where I was taking part in the annual Alumni Weekend, which involved me in chairing a session of …

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It is natural to feel conflicting emotions about your children going to university

With the new university term now fast approaching – and just started for some – it is natural for parents of first-time university students to feel very strange. Such a conflict of emotions – pride in your child for gaining a place and hope for the future, for new relationships and new horizons, balanced against …

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Women in teams: the way to combat the gender pay gap?

I missed this article, ‘Women compete better in teams’, which appeared in Sunday’s Observer, but luckily one of my senior staff passed it on to me. It gave details of research published in the Economics Journal about an experiment conducted by researchers about team exercises, and the results were fascinating, with implications for understanding and …

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The valuing of fatherhood

Fathers who would like an uplifting read should take a look at Dylan Jones’ comment piece on The Times website. Entitled ‘Men who juggle: School runs, nappies, long hours at work’, the article is in effect a piece in praise of fatherhood, recognising the value that fathers have in their children’s lives, and celebrating the …

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Boardroom quotas and social change

A very interesting comment piece appeared in The Telegraph on Wednesday of this week, and I thoroughly recommend that you read it. Entitled ‘Quotas won’t resolve the battle of the sexes’, it was written jointly by Dominic Raab and Priti Patel, Conservative MPs for, respectively, Esher and Walton, and Witham, and it challenged the recommendations …

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