“While the fashion industry employs lots of women in HR, design and communications roles, it is still very male-managed. I remember working for Louis Vuitton and being impressed that their CFO was female. While I was at Gucci the vacant CEO role was only being suggested to men. I asked the company president why and he said he’d simply presumed qualified women weren’t interested.

Quotas may be an abrupt response but they would give overlooked women an opportunity to prove they can make companies better, and a change in attitude will hopefully follow. I’ve seen so much more discussion over a woman’s board application than a man’s, with bosses second guessing the applicant’s drive and whether she might be pregnant within the year. I’ve also witnessed employees reacting negatively to a woman being promoted – even questioning if she is ‘sleeping with someone’ to get there.

Burberry is a great example of a company that makes use of female talent, but my male colleagues doubted Angela Ahrendts in the early days. Women should embrace quotas if they are introduced and not feel diminished by getting to the board in that way. I was once offered a job in a UN institution in Geneva because they needed someone Swiss, and I didn’t think twice. It’s a step towards making women at the top become the norm.”

YES: “QUOTAS WORKED IN POLITICS”

Should You Be Fast-Tracked To The Top?