* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Nicola Mendelsohn is chairman and partner at creative advertising agency Karmarama. In April, she will become the first woman president of advertising body the IPA in its 94 year history. The opinions expressed are her own. Thomson Reuters will host an International Women's Day follow-the-sun live blog on March 8, 2011.
I’m a lucky mum of four gorgeous children, three sons and a daughter. On the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day my hope is that my daughter has an equal chance of fulfilling her dreams as my sons have. That she will have the strength, passion and positivity to seize every opportunity that life throws at her.
Even in the UK in 2011 there are challenges ahead for our daughters. There is huge debate at the moment ignited by the Lord Davies enquiry into women in the boardroom and why are there so few female directors. This has been prompted by the fact that there are only five female CEOs in the FTSE 100 businesses.
There are all sorts of dismal career figures for the UK, such as women lacking ambition, with only 50 percent of women versus 62 percent of men expecting to be managers.
Or the fact that we lack confidence, with 70% of men having high levels of confidence versus only 50% of women. Or half of women managers confessing to having feelings of self doubt, versus only a third of men.
I hope that we can overcome these statistics and bring up the next generation of young women to have the confidence and opportunity to reach for whatever they want to achieve. It’s time we tackled these issues and demanded a more equal world.
