UK Flags on Government Website ‘Not Women-Friendly’, Says Lib Dem

The presence of British flags on the government’s business advice site is off-putting to women, a Liberal Democrat MP has said.

Lorely Burt, who is a junior minister in the Treasury and the government’s Ambassador for Women in Enterprise, made her comments in a report which offers advice to the government on how to increase the number of female entrepreneurs.

The Daily Mail reports that she was particularly critical of the design of the government’s ‘Great Business’ website, saying: “This branding is seen as not ‘woman-friendly’: the proliferation of Union flags, for example, has been compared to a military recruitment site.”

“The link to the women’s section of the website should appear at the top of the homepage. Currently it is near the bottom right-hand corner,” she added.

“The women’s section of the Great Business website is welcome but the branding should be made more inclusive.”

She also criticised a supposedly ‘gender-neutral’ finance page on the site which has three case studies, all of them male.

“The unintended implicit message is that finance is a ‘male’ subject,” she said. “Women should be treated as a high priority if the Government aims to raise their participation in enterprise to approximately 50 per cent.”

“The link to the women’s section of the website should appear at the top of the homepage. Currently it is near the bottom right-hand corner.

“The women’s section of the Great Business website is welcome but the branding should be made more inclusive.”