The rights of women, gay men and lesbians are enshrined in law. But are they respected at work? Al Senter finds that the attitudes of business have been a little slow to keep up with legislation

It's illegal for employers to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their gender or sexual orientation. But is success in business all the more difficult if you're female or gay?

The evidence is conflicting and contradictory. Lord Browne rose to the very top of BP, but, when he retired early as chief executive, a flurry of newspaper articles suggested that homophobia in the macho world of oil had forced his hand. The Independent on Sunday's annual Pink List, nominating 101 of the most influential gay men and women, was rushed out two months early to coincide with the story. Among the predictable array of actors, artists, designers, writers and musicians, there were a few notable business figures, including BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop, former ITV boss Charles Allen and KPMG managing partner, Dr Ashley Steel.

Both female and gay, Steel has, it could be argued, overcome a double disadvantage. Has she experienced any discrimination at work?
"I hope that I have achieved what I have achieved because I have exhibited the required skill and knowledge, and the fact that I have a same sex partner is irrelevant. Has it hindered my career? That's really difficult to judge. What I do know is that there are too many people in business who are gay and who feel unable to come out and be themselves."

Why is there still a reluctance to be open about sexual orientation?
"Because you never know how people will respond," replies Steel. "There are individuals—and whole societies—with strong religious convictions who frown on homosexuality. Why endanger your career by coming out when you don't need to?"

The decision to draw back the curtain on a secret relationship has to be taken carefully. It's better, suggests Steel, to leave some people in the dark.

"Once I'd decided to come out, there were clients with whom I could be perfectly open and others I preferred to keep in ignorance. It varies from client to client, from business environment to business environment. Some people feel awkward when faced with a gay person in a social situation. If so, I always try to make sure that the other person is in their comfort zone. Is that a right or a wrong thing to do? I don't know." On the KPMG board, Steel is joined by two other female directors, but they're heavily outnumbered by the 19 men. Why such a striking disparity?

"Women, I think, have to work that bit harder than men to succeed at board level. In a way, a woman's physique doesn't help. We're generally smaller and have quieter voices. If there were more women directors, I'm not sure if the atmosphere would be better—but it would be different, certainly."

The banking and the financial service industries are often portrayed as bastions of chauvinism—an image that a number of recent high-profile cases at industrial tribunals, alleging sexism and homophobia, has done nothing to dispel. But, according to Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall, it's a mistake to think of them as stuck in the dark ages. He praises the efforts of the banking giants to promote diversity. In Stonewall's January 2007's Workplace Equality Index, illustrious names such as Lloyds TSB (sixth), Goldman Sachs and KPMG (equal eighth), Barclays (16th) and Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch (equal 22nd) feature prominently. Summerskill acknowledges, though, that it's enlightened self-interest that's driving the process.

"In investment banking, the difference between a good trader and a mediocre one could be as much as $20m, and so businesses want the best people, irrespective of their gender or sexuality. We've also seen the development of employee networks, a development we strongly support, in which people come together through a common denominator such as gender, sexuality or race. Not only do they provide advice and support to their colleagues, but they can also furnish their employers with critically intelligent analyses of how the business can reach similar communities in the marketplace."

But a fundamental—and universal—shift in attitudes is still a long way off. Says Summerskill: "We don't believe that change will happen overnight. The reality is that there are still good reasons for people not to come out at work. It's only when they've seen a role model getting to the top in business that they will relax themselves. When you can show me six CEOs of FTSE 100 companies who are openly gay, then things really will have changed. So far, there's not one."

And despite changing attitudes, at the highest level women also remain something of a rarity. "Only the most exceptional women get to the top, whereas some very average men do," says Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice and organisational behaviour at the London Business School. "FTSE 100 boardrooms are pretty aggressive and competitive places. You have to be assertive, you have to be confrontational and you have to be able to argue your case. You have to exhibit those combative qualities, which most people look for in a leader, and women do not flourish in such large corporations."

Gratton says that talented young women, disillusioned with life at a corporate behemoth, often leave to set up their own business.
Pay inequality, inflexible attitudes among male employers who regard childbirth and family as an unwelcome distraction, and the under-development of female business potential all help to explain, believes Gratton, why female participation on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies stands at just 11 per cent.

"There have got to be much stronger coaching and mentoring schemes for women," she argues. "At the moment, we have several examples of CEOs from one company acting as mentors to female executives from another. A mentor sets time aside, they make a commitment to talking through the career options and make potentially useful introductions. Organisations have to be much more thoughtful and flexible about the impact of work on the home life and vice versa."

Neisha Glynternick, an employment law specialist with the media law firm Sheridans, says it's the hardy perennial issues that dominate her workload.
"The most common form of alleged discrimination still concerns the treatment women receive during pregnancy or which relate to childbirth issues or what happens when they return from maternity leave," she says. "But there is also discrimination that is much more subtle and therefore harder to prove. You could be passed over for promotion or not be invited to a job interview. Or even have the odd remark made of you that you're simply being 'hormonal'."

At the same time, it would be wrong to think nothing has been achieved since the first anti-discrimination laws were passed 40 years ago. Glenda Stone, CEO and founder of niche marketing agency Aurora and head of the Women's Enterprise Task Force, charts the progress of women in business over the past decades.

"In the 1970s, it was all about equal opportunities and gaining access to the game. By the 1980s, women had won that access but they were still playing the game, according to patriarchal rules. In the 1990s, women were told that they could have it all and so they began to think more about the work-life balance. Now we're in 2008, it's all about transforming work cultures to make them more female-friendly. At Lehman Brothers, for instance, when women leave to have a baby, they are still kept within the loop and invited to business briefings. In financial services, employees, male or female, gay or straight, are regarded as assets. They can generate substantial amounts of money, and companies have an obvious interest in ensuring that their assets are working as close to the optimum as possible."

Stephen Coote of the Gay Business Association, founded in 1983, is even more optimistic about the future. Legislation, says Coote, has been a force for change. He recalls his own early days with IBM.

"The macho culture was especially strong in the sales department, and there was a lot of banter going on. There is a difference, however, between workplace banter and homophobia. Homophobia often takes place behind the scenes and shows itself in commissions being withheld and gay people not being invited to interviews. But the law is on our side now and being gay in business is almost an irrelevance. These days, you have to earn your fees; gay or straight, you have to earn your salary on merit. There's been a wonderful transformation in all walks of life. I still can't quite believe that there are two openly gay members of the Tory Shadow Cabinet. That would have been unthinkable back in 1983."

Nonetheless, challenges remain. Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, considers that in certain business sectors, any deviation from the norm raises eyebrows.

"There are certain industries—advertising and the creative areas in general—where your sexuality is less important. But in other industries, you have to display macho behaviour, it is expected that you are seen to be thrusting and assertive. Of course, nobody would admit to judging people by their sexuality, and I'm certainly not saying that senior executives are homophobic per se. But the fact remains that in certain business sectors, the revelation that you were gay would certainly inhibit your progress, I'd have thought."

It is now more than 40 years since homosexuality was decriminalised, and feminism, that child of the 1960s, found its voice. But prejudice and discrimination take a long time to controvert: new laws and new attitudes tend to leave the public at large behind. Deutsche Bank's Rainbow Group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, would have seemed revolutionary just 20 years ago. 

It may be several more decades before equality of opportunity and of reward become the norm—but the struggle won't necessarily be uphill.