8 March 2008
The Prime Minister has marked International Women’s Day 2008 by asking women’s business leaders for advice on how to support the "next generation" of successful women.
The PM and his wife were joined for a lunch reception at Number 10 by a range of guests including Oxfam CEO Barbara Stocking, Sun editor Rebekah Wade and women’s minister Harriet Harman.
Speaking at the event, the PM said:
"I do think it is remarkable to think that one hundred years ago, almost exactly to the month, women were having to chain themselves outside the Houses of Commons and Downing Street to put the case for women’s representation. It is 80 years since women had the vote on equal terms in Britain, but now I think the issue is how far more we can ensure that women have opportunity in all areas of life."
Mr Brown added that women at the event were being asked to "adopt and mentor" British teenagers and young girls to help themaspire to the kinds of success enjoyed by other women "determined to break through what is sometimes called the glass ceiling".
The PM also took the opportunity to raise the issue of maternal mortality - and asked what business could do to help.
The United Nations have set themselves the target of cutting maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015. Over half a million women die each year during pregnancy or childbirth and 80 per cent of these deaths could be avoided.
Better access to family planning alone has the potential to avert a third of all maternal deaths.