The launch of the Anti-Feminism League and the award of ‘Toadies’ to David Cameron and the chairmen of 33 major British companies

[Note added 29.9.13: This blog post was first posted 8 May 2012, and it refers to a longitudinal study (Ahern & Dittmar) showing that when the proportion of women on major corporate boards is increased, corporate financial performance declines. We later identified a further four longitudinal studies which came to the same conclusion (no longitudinal study has ever shown an improvement in corporate financial performance). More details here:

http://c4mb.wordpress.com/improving-gender-diversity-on-boards-leads-to-a-decline-in-corporate-performance-the-evidence/ ]

I shall shortly be sending an email with the following content to David Cameron, and copying the email to a number of his colleagues. Similar emails will be sent in the course of the coming days to the chairmen of 33 major British companies:

Mr Cameron, good evening. Because you’re a prominent and active supporter of ‘improved’ gender balance in the boardroom, I wrote to you a month ago (attached) seeking evidence for the oft-claimed causal link between increased female representation in the boardroom and corporate performance. I’m not surprised to have received no such evidence from you. I haven’t had any evidence of the supposed link from any other leading supporters of the initiative.

The only link that’s been reported by independent researchers (i.e. not feminist ideologues or ‘academics’ pursuing feminist agendas) is a negative causal relationship. It’s outlined in a paper written by Ken Ahern and Amy Dittmar of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.¹ The paper is ‘The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation’. The paper’s Abstract:

 In 2003, a new law required that 40 percent of Norwegian firms’ directors be women – at the time only nine percent of directors were women. We use the pre-quota cross-sectional variation in female board representation to instrument for exogenous changes to corporate boards following the quota. We find that the constraint imposed by the quota caused a significant drop in the stock price at the announcement of the law and a large decline in Tobin’s Q over the following years, consistent with the idea that firms choose boards to maximize value. The quota led to younger and less experienced boards, increases in leverage and acquisitions, and deterioration in operating performance, consistent with less capable boards. [my emphasis]

¹ The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2012, vol 127(1): 137-197

There’s probably no need now for quotas as British business has already surrendered to the demand for more women in the boardroom, after being threatened by you and others that if it didn’t do so ‘voluntarily’ quotas would be introduced. You’re risking the economic prosperity of the United Kingdom in pursuit of a social engineering experiment inspired and supported by militant feminists.

The case for ‘improved’ female representation in the boardroom rests on a foundation of feminist fantasies, lies, delusions and myths, as I explain in The Glass Ceiling Delusion. You should be thoroughly ashamed of the role you’ve played in this matter, starting with your appointment of a Labour peer, Lord Davies of Abersoch, to report into ‘gender balance in the boardroom’. Lord Davies’s report was (predictably) very left-wing, and militant feminist ideology is apparent throughout the report.

Earlier today I launched the Anti-Feminism League. Our first action has been to present awards – ‘Toadies’ – to men in senior positions who’ve acted in a sycophantic and deferential manner towards women, who’ve collaborated with militant feminists by actively supporting the drive for ‘improved’ gender balance in the boardroom. Men who’ve allowed themselves to be persuaded to relentlessly advantage women at the expense of men. Men who’ve selectively abandoned the principle of meritocracy, encouraged by such organisations as the CBI, as we’ve outlined on this blog already.

The Anti-Feminist League is pleased to present you with the ‘Toady of the Year’ Award (2012) for your outstanding services to militant feminism.  Your certificate can be downloaded from the following link:

120308 Toady Award certificate for David Cameron

You will not be alone. Fellow Toadies include John Cridland, Director-General of the CBI, and the 33 male chairmen of major British companies who are members of the 30 percent club (below). On the club’s website it’s stated that, ‘Our members are Chairmen of UK companies who are working to fulfil the goals of the 30% Club and have committed to recruiting other Chairmen to support its mission’. These men, too, should be ashamed of themselves. I’ve ceased to buy goods and services from as many of these companies as possible, and encourage other consumers to do the same. My boycott currently extends to Centrica, Diageo, John Lewis, Pearson, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.  The chairmen and their companies:

Sir Win Bischoff, Lloyds Banking Group

Donald Brydon, Smiths Group

Sir Roger Carr, Centrica

David Childs, Clifford Chance

Allan Cook, Atkins

David Cruickshank, Deloitte

Ian Durant, Capital & Counties Properties

Neville Eisenberg, Berwin Leighton Paisner

Robert Elliott, Linklaters

Douglas Ferrans, Invista

Douglas Flint, HSBC

Stephen Green, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint

John Griffith-Jones, KPMG

Sir Philip Hampton, Royal Bank of Scotland

John Heaps, Eversheds

Tony Hobson, Sage

Dr Franz Humer, Diageo

Will Lawes, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Charlie Mayfield, John Lewis

Mike McTighe, JJB/Pace/Volex

Glen Moreno, Pearson

David Morley, Allen & Overy

Alan Parker, Brunswick

Sir John Parker, Anglo American/National Grid

Ian Powell, PwC

Peter Scott, Engine Group

Sir Simon Robertson, Rolls Royce

Lord Sharman of Redlynch, Aviva

John Morrison Stewart, Legal & General

Robert Swannell, Marks & Spencer

David Tyler, Sainsbury’s

Steve Varley, Ernst & Young

Bob Wigley, Yell

Have a nice day.

Best wishes,

Mike Buchanan

‘First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.’

Mahatma Gandhi