Yet again I laboured in vain on radio London yesterday morning to advocate liberty of contract in the field of employment. I waxed eloquent, I quoted Lord Salisbury, I gave as far as time allowed detailed information, the same old chestnut why are women so hard done by? My interviewer gleefully sited Rwanda as recording more equal pay with men than the UK. This re enforced my point , in Rwanda they are not burdened by thousands of regulations, they leave it to employer and employee to hammer out a mutually beneficial agreement. But what about Germany they employ more women there than here. Well so what I thought, who cares? But if you do you might well dwell on the fact Germany has no minimum wage ergo they are more flexible. I have done this kind of interview many times, usually with women of a certain genre, young, educated, always public sector or big institution. Often pleasant and charming. Sadly they have no confidence in the female of the species. They genuinely believe women cannot survive in a modern industrial democracy without state sponsorship. Paradoxically these ladies see themselves the antecedents of the 1970 's feminists without their rather unattractive baggage. Yet I long since adopted the mantle of cheer leader for the modern woman.40 years in financial services and 30 in women's sport sponsorship has given me an unshakeable faith in their ability to tackle anything. My mother was a senior NCO in the wartime WAAF so I was already pre disposed to this opinion. How can we change this negative view of women in the media? We must get more women of achievement into the classroom, yachtswomen, surgeons, captains of industry, senior players in the professions, these rolemodels can breed confidence in students and pupils. Some of the senior public schools are encouraging this approach, a life outside teaching brings a broader perspective. I should like to see a system of encouraging young people to think, get away from box ticking education. An educated, attractive and articulate young woman should not stare in a bewildered uncomprehending way at a concept that Lord Salisbury promoting over 100 years ago, liberty of contract in a free society is not as difficult as all that.