Tell female staff when they've done a good job because women aren't as likely to blow their own trumpet, bosses told

Helen Fraser says men shout their successes while female workers don't

Girls' Day School Trust CEO tells of women's 'lost decades' between 30-50

In speech today she will call for quotas of women in company boardrooms

And she says discouragement, rather than babies, holds female staff back



Girls' Day School Trust CEO Helen Fraser will say today that bosses need to boost the confidence of female employees to help them fulfil their potential

Bosses should tell their women employees how good they are to give them the confidence to rise to the top, a girls' school leader will say today.

Helen Fraser, head of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST), says talented women need to be told 'directly and to their face how good they are' if their managers want to keep them and get the most out of them.

In a speech at the trust's annual conference today, Mrs Fraser will tell heads and governors from its 26 schools and academies that the main problem for working women is 'discouragement', rather than 'babies'.

The GDST CEO says women currently suffer from 'two lost decades' between the ages of 30 and 50 when women are overtaken by men in the workplace, despite doing better than them at the start of their careers.

And she says teachers need to build girls' confidence and resilience to help them blow their own trumpets in the workplace and weather the tough times they will invariably encounter in the workplace.

Mrs Fraser will also call for female quotas in the boardroom, to counteract the 'old boys' network' that promotes only leaders who look and act like those currently in charge.

Speaking at the trust's 141st conference, she will highlight women's lack of confidence in the workplace as the key problem holding them back.

She says that typically, an employer would see a female employee: 'doing really fantastic work quietly in a corner, thinking to herself "Someone will notice, someone will notice", and feeling that it would somehow be undignified to jump on her desk and say "Look at the amazing solution to this problem I have just come up with".

'But the terrible truth is that no one does notice – they are just too busy – and there may be a young man a couple of desks along who has come up with something equally good, who does wave his hands in the air and tell everyone how clever he has been.

'And guess who catches the chief executive’s eye?'

Fraser cites high-flying mothers like Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino, left, and fund manager Nicola Horlick



Mrs Fraser says employers also need to make sure their female staff feel appreciated.

She will tell delegates today that: 'A good boss – of either sex – who takes the time and trouble to tell a young woman employee that she is doing well and has done some terrific work can make all the difference.

'Of course both sexes need validation, but I would say that companies that want to get the most out of their young women employees, want them to fulfil their potential and stay on through babies or otherwise to rise to the top, should look very carefully at their appraisal process, and should make sure that talented women are told directly and to their face how good they are.

'A validated woman employee will go far.'

Mrs Fraser will also call for compulsory quotas for women on company boards in the UK, as a temporary rather than permanent measure.



'Companies... should make sure that talented women are told directly and to their face how good they are.'

- Helen Fraser, Girls' Day School Trust CEO

She says: 'With the possible exception of boardroom quotas, I believe we’ve probably gone as far as necessary in terms of legislating for equality.'

'As a pragmatist I am very much in favour of "what works", and it is clear to me that quotas for women would make a big difference in a short space of time.

'I don’t think this would need to be a permanent measure, but a short-term one until the representation of women reaches a tipping point.'



Women currently make up less than 20 per cent of directors of FTSE100 companies, and the vast majority of these are non-executive directors.

And while two-thirds of those entering the legal profession are women, they only make up 16 per cent of High Court judges.

Citing high-flying mothers such as mother-of-three Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino and mother-of-six fund manager Nicola Horlick, Mrs Fraser will say: 'You sometimes hear the excuse, "But they all go off and have babies". That’s not the real issue, and it’s just that, an excuse – we need to look deeper, at what’s really holding women back.

'We need to look at what society is doing that is holding women back – from a long hours culture in too many workplaces to an old boys’ network that only likes to promote individuals who look, speak and think like the current leadership.'

The schools leader, whose group includes leading schools like Putney High, Bath's Royal High, and Wimbledon High, has always been an ardent advocate of high-achieving women.

Mrs Fraser, 64, who has two daughters of her own and two step-daughters, has spoken before of the 'nappy wall' rather than the 'glass ceiling' that threatens women in the workplace.