Anger at corporate hospitality in strip clubs

Mar 31 2008

A women’s rights organisation today launched an attack on businesses that entertain clients in strip clubs.

The Fawcett Society said there was a growing corporate culture, particularly among City of London firms, of using lap dancing venues.

The society will launch its new manifesto Sexism and the City tomorrow, calling for an end to sexism in the work place and for a change in the law.

It wants strip clubs to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments, like sex shops, rather than requiring a Premises License like ordinary pubs and clubs.

This would enable local authorities to apply greater restrictions to the clubs, with regards to their location, number, and the protection of women, the society said.

Fawcett Director Dr Katherine Rake said: “Behind the conspicuous wealth of the City lies a hidden story of disadvantage and discrimination affecting women at every level of business - from the bathroom to the boardroom.

“For the first time Fawcett is exposing the links between these experiences. That link is sexism.

“Women have the right to dignity and respect in their workplaces and in their daily lives.

“It is time for women and men to stand up against the sexist culture of objectifying women that has gripped our society.

“The Sexism and the City campaign is calling upon Government, businesses and individual employees to take urgent action.

“Everyone pays the price for sexism, so everyone has a role to play in stamping it out.”

The first lap dance club in the UK opened in 1995 and there are now more than 300, with about 65 in London alone, she said.

A poll of more than 500 women found 60% would be very or fairly uncomfortable working for an organisation that allows its employees to use lap dancing venues for entertaining clients.

And a survey of more than 1,000 adults found 52% of men and 59% of women believe it is not acceptable for businesses to use lap dance clubs as venues for entertaining clients.

A society spokeswoman said in light of the “normalisation” of clubs in city centres, the figures were “quite strong”.

The manifesto says sexism at work remains rife and is part of a wider culture in which women are subject to sexist stereotypes and are increasingly sexually objectified.

Only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors, 26% of Civil Service top management and 20% of MPs are women, it quotes the Equal Opportunities Commission as saying.

In addition, 30,000 UK women lose their jobs every year due to pregnancy discrimination, two-thirds of low paid workers are women, and women working full-time are paid on average 17% less than men.

The society said it is calling on the Government to extend the right to work flexibly and to end the opt-out of the EU Work Time Directive in order to curb the “destructive” long working hours culture.

“Women in the workplace experience worrying levels of direct sexual harassment, and visiting a lap dance club has become an increasingly normal way for companies to entertain clients,” it says.