Date: Wednesday 19 September 2018 | Location: The Mermaid, Puddle Dock, London EC4V 3DB | Time: 17:30
About the Debate
We are delighted to announce the second Legal Debate of 2018. The next event will take place at Thomson Reuters’ Generate Customer Summit on Wednesday 19 September. Join us as industry heavyweights from law, media and politics come together to debate whether quotas are the only solution to tackle gender inequality in the workplace.
Since the Equality Act came into force in 2010, minimal progress has been made towards achieving gender parity in the workplace. Women are generally far less likely to hold senior leadership positions within organisations, and recent reports have revealed the alarming extent of the gender pay gap between men and women.
Despite the increased awareness around gender equality, there is still no sign of the situation radically changing anytime soon – and much still needs to be done. So, are quotas the answer? Should compulsory quotas be introduced in the workplace? Could they be a quick-win solution? Or, alternatively, would other methods be more effective?
Meet the debaters*
Arguing FOR the motion:
Catherine Mayer, Author and co-founder of the Women's Equality Party
Catherine Mayer is a journalist, best-selling author and the co-founder and President of the Women’s Equality Party.
Born in the US, educated in the UK and Germany, she started on staff at The Economist, and held deputy editorships at Business Traveller and International Management magazines. She contributed regularly to the German edition of Forbes and for 11 years worked as a London-based correspondent for the German news weekly, FOCUS. In 2004, she joined TIME as a senior editor, and later rose to London Bureau Chief, Europe Editor and Editor at Large.
Her biography of Prince Charles, Charles: The Heart of a King, came out in February 2015. A Sunday Times top 10 bestseller, it made headlines across the world. Her other publications have also reached best-selling status too and have been translated into many different languages.
In March 2015, she proposed the idea of the Women’s Equality Party at the Southbank Centre, during the WOW Festival, and agreed with Sandi Toksvig to co-found the party. She left TIME in April of the same year, and is now the President of the Women’s Equality Party.
Catherine frequently appears on broadcast media. She served as the elected President of the Foreign Press Association in London from 2003-2005. She is on the founding committee of WOW. She served as a trustee of the National Migraine Centre.
Dr. Charlotte Proudman, Barrister, Goldsmith Chambers
Dr Charlotte Proudman is an established barrister in family law and public law at Goldsmith Chambers.
With a commitment to ensuring gender equality under the law, Charlotte writes and speaks about issues such as female genital mutilation (FGM), workplace sexual harassment, prostitution and rape laws. She is described by the Telegraph as “clever”, “confident” and “impressively well-versed on women’s rights”.
Combining legal practice and academia Charlotte will commence a Junior Research Fellowship at Queens’ College, Cambridge in autumn 2018. At present she is an Affiliated Researcher at the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, from which she was awarded her PhD on the law and policy on FGM in England. Charlotte was a former Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School where she studied feminist legal theory.
Arguing AGAINST the motion:
Justin Webb, British Journalist and Radio Presenter
Justin Webb is the BBC's Former North America Editor. His career with the BBC has combined presentation of major news programmes on both radio and TV (The World Tonight, BBC Breakfast News and the One O'Clock News)with work 'in the field', as Europe correspondent. In 2009 he joined the Radio 4Today programme team. He is an experienced conference facilitator and keynote speaker.
Justin studied at London School of Economics, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Beaver. After graduating, Justin joined the BBC Graduate Scheme in Northern Ireland and worked for BBC Radio Ulster based in Belfast. He moved to London to work on Radio Four's Today Programme, before moving to BBC Television to work as a reporter as then as a Foreign Affairs Correspondent. During this time he was dispatched to report from cities such as Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem. He was based in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and has also worked in Bosnia.
Justin Webb is one the BBC's top presenters. He first came to prominence when he presented Breakfast News between 1992 – 1997. On weekday mornings between 6.30 am and 9.00am, Justin, interviewed everyone from the Prime Minister to top sportsmen and women.
Justin went onto present the main BBC TV News at the weekends as well as Radio 4's The World Tonight. In July 1999 he took up an appointment as Europe Correspondent for the BBC and was based in Brussels until August2002. During that time he reported on the workings of the European Commission and parliament, the politics surrounding Britain's decision on whether to join the single currency and the enlargement of the European Union.
Justin was made US Correspondent in 2001 and moved to Washington. In 2007 he was made the BBC's North America Editor, a role newly created in time for the American Presidential election in 2008. He also presented regular pieces for CNN USA edition, and his BBC pieces were often syndicated across the networks.
Vivienne Artz, President of Women in Banking and Finance and Chief Privacy Officer, Thomson Reuters
Vivienne Artz joined Thomson Reuters as the Chief Privacy Officer in November 2017, based in London, leading the global Privacy Team and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice at Thomson Reuters.
Previously, Vivienne was a Managing Director and Global Head of Privacy Legal and Head of International for the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group at Citi in the General Counsel’s Office in London. Prior to joining Citi in 2000, Vivienne worked in private practice in London.
Vivienne chairs the International Regulatory Strategy Group Data Working Group and sits on the European Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Until recently, Vivienne was the chair of the AFME Data Protection Working Group, engaged in the UK Finance Data Protection Working Group, and co-chair of the IAPP Knowledge Net for the United Kingdom.
Vivienne is the current President of Women in Banking and Finance, having been awarded the “Champion for Women” Award at the Women in Banking and Finance Awards for Achievement 2016. Vivienne has many years of experience leading a broad range of diversity initiatives and groups both within firms and across sectors.
Chaired by:
Peter Thal Larsen, EMEA Editor, Reuters Breakingviews
*Debaters subject to change.
Venue:
The Mermaid, Puddle Dock, London EC4V 3DB
Book now
Registration is now open and we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible to reserve your seat. Debate veterans know that these are popular evenings and spaces are limited, so please don’t miss out.
Event details
17:30: Registration and drinks
No tickets just make sure you’ve registered so your name is on our list.
18:00: Debate begins
Each speaker will be given 10 minutes to put forward their argument. Once all speakers have presented, you will have a chance to ask questions.
19:00: Summing-up
Cast your vote for the most convincing side.
19:30: Complimentary drinks and canapés
Please join us for drinks and canapés afterwards – a great chance to meet the speakers in person and network with other guests from the worlds of business, politics and law.
Watch the previous debates >