Jane Austen News - April 2018

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The Jane Austen Economy Proposal

Writing for the Evening Standard online, journalist Joy Lo Dico has proposed a "Jane Austen economy". We were intrigued... Joy suggests that in order to support the campaign to see increased diversity within company boards, specifically a greater percentage of women on company boards, that women should "all rush to the bank and demand Jane Austen tenners, and parade the high street with fistfuls of them, to spend on Tanqueray gin — Diageo has a mixed board and women in their C-suite — and Aquafresh: it’s made by GSK, it has a mixed board, and Emma Walmsley as a CEO. And we all turn over to ITV in support of Carolyn McCall, its chief executive." Essentially, that women make sure, where they can, to support gender-diverse companies so that others will follow their good example.

I’m only half-joking. Rather than complaining about absence, we could take action by drawing up a list of those firms that see equality as part of their mission.

The name of her idea is one we particularly like. After all, Jane was very much writing at a time when the world was a man's world, and a woman with a career was often seen as a negative. Also it's apt given that women like Caroline Criado-Perez had to fight hard to keep a woman on a note of English currency when Elizabeth Fry was replaced as the face of the five pound note by Winston Churchill in 2016. We can't help but think that Jane would be delighted that gender equality is being associated with her name. (Joy's full article can be found here.)