In the UK 45% of the workforce is female, but the percentage of women in senior positions, both in the professions and in business, is considerably lower. This is unfair to women, and also bad for the economy in that those who are promoted to senior positions may not be the most able. Women may be discouraged from seeking promotion because employers require senior employees to work long and inflexible hours. Women may also be perceived as being unwilling to subordinate the demands of family to the demands of the job. So employers must be urged to offer flexibility in working hours and to seek to move away from the UK's culture of long working hours.