Women are big losers in the politics of pockets
The other day at a business conference, I watched as a hapless man asked one of the most fatuous questions in modern corporate life.
He worked for the audio team that had to attach a clunky microphone battery pack to all the speakers going on stage, and each time he approached a female panellist, he said: “Have you got an inside pocket in your jacket?”
It wasn’t his fault. Most of the male speakers did have such a pocket, into which the battery pack silkily slipped. But asking a woman if she has an inside jacket pocket is like asking if she has a ticket to the moon.
I was muttering about this to anyone who would listen at the business conference when suddenly, a woman who was the chief executive of a very well-known company, said: “You need these.” She opened her smart blue suit jacket to reveal that inside there was not one but six pockets, including one with a highly desirable zip.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Pilita Clark
