Equality campaigner the Fawcett Society has launched a major new campaign to stamp out sexism in UK workplaces, which includes a call for an end to the use of strip clubs as venues for business meetings.

The campaign has been launched because the society believes that, nearly 40 years on from the outlawing of discrimination against women in the workplace, sexism remains rife.

‘Sexism and the City’, a manifesto published by the campaign group, said only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors are women; 30,000 women lose their jobs every year in the UK for being pregnant; two-thirds of low-paid workers are women; women working full-time are paid on average 17% less than men; and 18% of sex discrimination compensation awards are for sexual harassment.

Fawcett is calling on the government to extend the right to work flexibly to all so that flexible working is not seen as the ‘mummy track’, and ending the opt-out of the EU Work Time Directive in order to curb the destructive long working hours culture. 

The Society highlighted that there are now 300 lapdancing clubs in the UK and the report added: "All women are now subject to a damaging culture of sexual objectification, waved in by the normalisation of the sex ‘industry’. Women in the workplace experience worrying levels of direct sexual harassment, and visiting a lapdance club has become an increasingly normal way for companies to entertain clients."

Commenting on the campaign, Dr Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, 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."