I just returned from a 18 day tour of the UK speaking at women's conferences from Plymouth to London while I enjoyed the tour some things are very troubling.  My usual antennae for women's news was tingling particularly on my birthday. 

The January 15th Sunday Times News Review section 4 had a cover story called Working Girls.  It chronicled the troubles of six high flying women who are suing their employer for more than $billion and their complaints about treatment as professional woman in the city and Wall Street.

Let me highlight some of the more troubling things I found in the article.

1.  A female employee left a box of sweets on her desk at haloween and boss said loudly in front of her colleagues "You should move that or men will have their hands in your box."

2.  A successful female employee of one merchant was called the "tethered goat" meaning her role was to attract male clients.

3.  A boss said of a female analyst at Schroders in London "had cancer, been a pain, now pregnant."

4.  An equity trader toiled for more than a decade at her bank but claims she lost out to junior, less productive male rivals in pay and promotion.

5.  Maria Rubahkina, a New York vice president of corporate communications claims that a male junior from London not long out of actuallly working in a nightclub was promoted above her.  A senior executive justified the decision by saying he "would feel more comfortable working with someone male and British."

6.  A woman as put under pressure by a supervisor and colleague to leave during a dinner celebrating the closure of a big deal so the male clients and bank employees could visit a strip club.

7.  A senior executive organized a wine tasting event inviting everyone in the group except two of the women members of the team.

8.  A senior executive will take staff to lunch and only address remarks to the male staff members.

9.  One woman mentions that the day before she delivered her baby she was called into the office to 'run her eyes' over a woman applying to join the firm.  She was asked "Would this potential recruit be the sort who woul might sue the company?"

10.  One woman asked "why should I be put in the position of deciding whether to go to a lap dancing bar?  Some of us are married with children; we don't want to go to those places."

Why indeed.  Have we come this far as professional women that we now have to acquiesce to this type of treatment?  I think not. 

Now I can hear some of you saying what's the problem?  However, I am confident that there are many men and women who find these behaviors offensive.  How would you like your daughters treated this way after the thousands of dollars spent on their college education?  What if you were treated this way after giving all of your days and late nights working on a project for your employer? 

The truth is that when I showed this section of the Times to our UK women attendees none of them had seen it.  And they were as repulsed as I was. 

Here in the US I dare say there may be similar behavior but we cannot learn about and change it without your help.  If you or anyone you know works in a corporation that exhibits these or like practices share your experiences now.  We cannot change what we are unaware of.  Consider it an exercise in Ethics, the ethics of self respect and self empowerment.