Sexism row rocks Merrill Lynch

[dArKeR]

By Sapa-AP

London - A former Merrill Lynch & Company executive said on Friday that the firm is an "institutionally sexist" place where women struggle to receive equal pay to men.

Stephanie Villalba is bringing a £7-million claim for unequal pay and unfair dismissal against the investment bank, which fired her from a senior post last July.

"I would describe Merrill Lynch as being institutionally sexist," Villalba told an employment tribunal in south London. "The problem is not the view of individual managers but of the whole culture of the management team.

"Everybody who is making the decisions is male," she added.

Villalba, the former head of Merrill Lynch's private client business in Europe, claims she was "bullied, belittled and undermined" by her immediate manager, and that his superior failed to support her because she was a woman and "an outsider".

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2109909

[LittleApple81]

1. Removed because of financial loses... Yeah, 7 M pounds will be a loss.nt