The Equal Opportunities Commission has issued a century-end review highlighting how things have changed over the years for women.

From the very low figures in the early years, women now:

• make up about half of the UK workforce
• typically get paid about 80% of what men get paid
• account for more than half of full-time undergraduates, and
• won 120 seats in Parliament in the last election.

Progress, indeed, though perhaps still some way yet to go.

Only a third of the members of boards for such public bodies as hospitals, health trusts, regional development agencies and museums are women.

Margaret Jay, the Minister for Women, has called for this situation to be re-balanced. In a statement last week, she urged more women to put themselves forward to ensure that public agencies can "draw on the widest field of experience".

Elliott Chase