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Brown courts women in business for aspiration support

08/03/2008

Aspiring young women looking to get into business will receive mentoring from their senior female role models.

Prime minister Gordon Brown asked female luminaries from the business world to mentor teenagers and young women at a lunch in Downing Street to mark international women's day.

Mr Brown, hosting the event alongside his wife Sarah, said he wanted more women to break through what he described as the "glass ceiling" blocking aspiration.

"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," he said.

"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."

Sun editor Rebekah Wade and Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking were among those attending the reception.