Yesterday I met with a wonderful woman who was working on a women's mentoring program for her company. One of the things we talked about was the fact that so many women had so little confidence in themselves. When applying for jobs they feel that they must meet every criteria and are very critical of what they do. They also felt a distinct lack of ability compared to those around them. In other words, they have a collective crisis of confidence.

Confidence is a huge success factor and something that should be nurtured from a very young age. Many baby boomers especially see confidence in women as a masculine trait and one not to be encouraged. My mother-in-law used to talk about women's achievements being measured by how good we look and how feminine we act for our husbands rather than by how confident we are for ourselves. Surely we have gone past this now and can recognise and applaud how good we are.

Let's not be modest here. Women are now breadwinners, the main homemakers, mothers and often have a multitude of activities they must do everyday. Most men still don't take on the same responsibilities. If we are ever going to make headway in a male leadership environment we are going to have to realise that our abilities are just as good as those of the males around us and sometimes even better!