Women are brought up thinking that they would never have the time to take care of the family if their job required them to be so responsible. I still remember stopping my business partner and sister, Bernice, and asking her to explain why there were so many men at these events. After her explanation, the penny dropped and I realised that even in such a diverse and fantastic industry, female leaders were still lacking.

‘You cannot be what you cannot see’. I’ve been musing on that expression for a while now considering exactly why it’s so important to have positive female role models. In a world where there are more men named John in CEO positions in FSTE100 companies than there are women in the top spots we need all the visible role models we can get.

It has struck me several times over the past year...that finding women to speak at conferences and events in our industry is not easy. In my role as Deputy Chair of EUKSW, I help to organise an annual conference, and looking back over previous years, it would seem that they are populated by 90% men.