Heidy Rehman

Three quarters of people back the banning of unpaid internships beyond a four-week period. This is according to a survey of 5,000 people by the Social Mobility Commission.  Later this week Lord Holmes of Richmond will be leading a bill in the House of Lords with the aim of requiring companies to pay interns the minimum wage after a month’s work. This follows the same recommendation that was made in January in a report by the All Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility. It will need Parliamentary backing to succeed – but this may be unlikely, given that Parliament blocked a ban on unpaid internships last November. I am the founder of a womenswear brand, Rose & Willard. No one works at my company for free.

I’ve grown to dislike the term ‘equal pay’. Without doubt women deserve to be paid the same as men for the same job performance, but it is the argument that stands against them. ‘Equal pay’ has an underlying tone of ‘it’s not fair’ – which is a weak position from which to negotiate. I say this from experience, as a woman in the City who could and should have been paid more than her male counterparts. My argument was always equal pay. It failed me. I was an equity research analyst at a large and prestigious US investment bank. Client rankings, as measured by the leading surveys (Extel and Institutional Investor), were the main indicators of job performance.