Bunhill: Women don't worry

THE revelation last week that top women managers are prone to mental instability has me rushing to the phone. Tuvio Melamed, lecturer in occupational pyschology at the University of Central Lancashire, told the British Psychological Society: 'The struggle of getting there makes (women) more introverted and anxious than men because the environment in which they have to work is so hostile.'

Worried, naturally, I call some high-flying women to check on their mental state. Yve Newbold, the Hanson company secretary and a champion of women in the boardroom, assures me she's fine, adding that she finds Melamed's theory 'extraordinary' and his research 'flawed'.

'I know a lot of women at the top, and I don't think we're more unstable. I think we self- select. Those who are battling (to reach the top) are those who can battle.'

Her own pet psychological theory is that top women (and top men, for that matter) are trying to please their parents. 'I don't think it's got anything to do with gender.'