Girls should be taught that sexism in the workplace is an 'attractive challenge', former top head says

Girls should be taught that sexism in the workplace is an “attractive challenge” rather than developing a “hostile attitude” towards men, the former head of one of the country's top schools has said.

Female students should learn about the challenges of the future in a positive light rather than teachers “throwing a pool of gloom” over it, according to Clarissa Farr, who was High Mistress at St Paul’s Girls’ School from 2006-17.

Speaking to headteachers at the annual Girls’ School Association conference in Bristol, she said that teachers should not “entrench prejudice” against men when educating pupils about what to expect in the world of work.

She said that girls’ schools should invite their recent alumnae back to tell students about their experiences of dealing with men in the workplace.

“Having those real life accounts is good. I think also that way the girls can develop practical strategies for dealing with what they may encounter in a way which is more positive and feels like more of an attractive challenge than throwing a pool of gloom over the whole situation,” she said.

“It is about creating that continuity so they go on developing but she they don’t go into the workplace with a hostile attitude to men and an unreceptive frame of mind.”

Since stepping down as head at the £27,830-a-year St Paul’s Girls’ School in 2017, Miss Farr has written a successful book about educating girls called The Making of Her.

The school, which is based in Hammersmith, west London, was founded in 1904 and counts the actress Rachel Weisz and the Labour MP Harriet Harman among its alumnae.

Miss Far said that schools should “concentrate on the positives” of the future rather than on “putting on your armour for a battle”.

She said: “The emphasis in a girls’ school is on building confidence, building self-belief, taking yourself seriously, being resilient, being empathetic of course, being collaborative.”

The modern workplace should be about young men and women working together to bring about a change culture, rather than about “battle lines being drawn”.

“I’m not advocating that girls develop an adversarial attitude at school, quite the opposite, that they have enough confidence to collaborate and they don’t have to be defensive,” she said.