What do women look like at work? From my desk in an open plan office I have a good view of eight. The oldest is fiftysomething, the youngest about 25. Some appear to have spent a decent amount of time in front of the mirror before coming to work — others less so. One has her hair in a messy ponytail and a cycling jacket on the back of her chair. A second is in astonishingly high heels and clad in black. A third (me) has grey showing on the roots of my hair and a smear of icing sugar on my leg. Some look as if they often go to the gym, others look as if they have never been in their lives. All are sitting at desks, apart from one who has just walked by looking distracted, holding a cup of tea. Two are eating. No one is smiling. Everyone is staring at their screens, faces blank.
There is nothing terribly mysterious or surprising about this. It is what professional women look like at work in a newspaper office in London in 2016. Why I make such a meal out of describing it is that even though people endlessly write and think and talk about women at work, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photograph that captures what real working women actually look like, or what they get up to.
Last week I finally got around to reading a 155-page McKinsey report called “The Power of Parity”. In it some of the finest brains in consultancy take on the topic of women in the labour force and reach the cheering — if implausible — conclusion that if only everyone would “prioritise action” in “the gender equality landscape”, $12tn would be added to global growth.