They told me to strike a pose - not for the cover of a magazine* but for International Women's Day - so I did!

The pose represents 'balance for better' and is part of the IWD campaign to highlight that there are still differences, and an imbalance, when it comes to equal opportunities for women, in areas that have previously been seen as male-dominated. So I was more than happy to 'strike a pose' and Tweeted it out, along with millions of others of course.

There are many women who run their own businesses, just as I do, and yet I don't think that we're really fully recognised yet as adding value to the economy, although we do in so many ways. I belong to several networking groups which enable me to get out and promote my business, and one of these groups is ladies only. We meet monthly, over lunch, and there's always a guest speaker (often male). The women that I meet within this group all run their own businesses, and many of them run them entirely on their own, as I do. We're able to help each in all sorts of ways, from discussing the latest developments in technology, to new ideas on hair and make-up, and discussions on the problems that female solo entrepreneurs have to sometimes struggle with - balancing family life and children, getting through the 'feast or famine' phases when work is lighter than normal, to working in isolation.

There's nothing new in any of this, and (apart from possibly discussions on hair and make-up) the issues and problems are pretty much the same for men as well. But men and women probably will need to continue to work on addressing the imbalance -

And so I leave you to ponder on the title lyrics from one of my absolute favourite soul classics - James Brown's 1966 'It's Man's World' :

'This is a man's world, this is a man's world

But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl'

*For those who are not old enough to remember, 'Strike a Pose' and 'Cover of a Magazine' are lyrics in Madonna's 1990 song, 'Vogue'.