THE PAULA PRINCIPLE

Whereas The Peter Principle, a 4 million-copy bestseller from the 1960s, argued that most (male) workers will inevitably be promoted to one level beyond their competence, Schuller shows how women today face the opposite scenario: their skills are going to waste as they work below their competence levels. Schuller blends interviews and studies with examples drawn from popular culture, and examines how attitudes have changed, from the advent of higher education for women in the 19th century to female dominance at all academic levels today. He also reveals how this has translated — or failed to translate — into the lived experiences of professional women, whether they are nursery workers, council employees, journalists, or oil company executives.

Engrossing and full of everyday insights into how gender impacts working life, THE PAULA PRINCIPLE is a wellreasoned analysis of the obstacles that many women face, and a guide to how we can challenge them on a personal, organisational, and societal level.

Tom Schuller is currently an independent social and educational researcher. He has held senior positions in academia and policy bodies, and written or edited around 20 books. He has a PhD. from the University of Bremen and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a visiting professor at Birkbeck and the UCL Institute of Education.