MORE companies still tend to be run by men than by women but one development in Edinburgh is reversing the trend.
All five of the businesses that have so far moved into Barnton House on the city’s western fringe are run by females.
The first of the current crop of tenants to take up space was Julie Pearson, who runs Cloudberry gifts and coffee shop.
She said the women get on well together and had collaborated in the run-up to the Christmas season.
“Apart from regular discussions over coffee we hold a more formal meeting in mid-summer to discuss a joint strategy for Christmas trading,” Pearson added.
“Of course it helps that all our businesses are complementary to one another and are not in direct competition.”
Pearson launched Cloudberry in June 2010 while on maternity leave from her former employer, French Connection, after giving birth to her son, Jamie.
The other businesswomen based at Barnton are: Aly Everitt of Curves, a mini-health club; Sally Arnison and Leanne Carey of Barnton Pharmacy; Angela Young of 123 Accountancy; and Pip Watt, a franchisee of Kip McGrath, the worldwide chain of education centres for school-age children.
Iain Mercer, group managing director of Almondale Investments, which owns the mixed use building, said: “We did not deliberately go out to target firms headed by women but it’s good to reflect that there is no ‘glass ceiling’ at Barnton House.”
Mercer is the son of former Hearts football club chairman Wallace Mercer, who founded his Almondale Group in 1993, with Iain joining the business in 2001. Iain took control of the group in 2006 when his father died.
A report last month from Holyrood’s equal opportunities committee found a glass ceiling still separates women from boardroom jobs, while they also receive unequal pay compared with men. They called for evidence on how to address issues such as the impact of shift working, rising competition from men in the part-time jobs market and employers’ reactions to flexible working requests.
The committee is due to start taking evidence in the spring and convener Mary Fee, the Labour MSP for West Scotland, said: “The current economic climate has had a negative impact on a number of areas within our society, including rocketing levels of unemployment, particularly affecting women.
“We all want equality in the workforce. This committee is looking to identify the steps that are needed to get there.”
According to Cranfield School of Management, women account for 17.4 per cent of FTSE 100 and 12 per cent of FTSE 250 board positions. Business Secretary Vince Cable has called for headhunters to publish statistics to highlight which firms are “going the extra mile” in finding female candidates.