'There was a lot needing to be done': one woman's career leading charities

Geraldine Peacock, first chair of the Charity Commission, reflects on the changes needed in the sector – and a bruising encounter with Tony Blair

“Being the only one, I couldn’t be anything but different. I felt I could speak out – there were so many of them missing the point sometimes.” Geraldine Peacock, a female pioneer in the charity sector, is talking about a 1997 dinner for the heads of Britain’s 20 top charities, at which she was the only woman.

At that time, Peacock was one of the voluntary sector’s only female leaders – and certainly the only one leading a charity with a £20m turnover. At that dinner, in the Army and Navy club, Peacock found herself sitting with 19 men, many of whom were from a military background. “They didn’t quite know how to handle it,” she admits. “There were no women’s toilets in the club, apart from on the top floor – it would have once been the maid’s quarters. Every time I needed the toilet, I had to go up all of these stairs.

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from Voluntary Sector Network | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2D8R42U