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Karren Brady (Vice Chair of West Ham United FC) a woman in business.

I heard Karren speak at the Salisbury Big Business event in April. I attended the event just to hear her speak and I was very glad I did. She's an eloquent and motivational speaker, has a clear business vision, obviously works hard and is very determined. She is also distinctly feminine in a male dominated profession.

I was left feeling a little queasy though with the number of anecdotes in her speech that relied on a "man bashing" punch line. Usually the man in question was too dumb, or too unsophisticated, perhaps too Neanderthal to combat Karren's sharp put downs. Although the jokes were funny, and had the mixed gender audience laughing in the aisles, I wondered how many of the men felt annoyed at the cheap laughs at their expense.

You know where this is leading but I'll make the point anyway - if a bloke had stood up and littered a speech on his business acumen with similarly dismissive comments of the girls in his organisation, he'd have been booed off the stage. Or at the very least been subject to pointedly disapproving looks during the obligatory after speech networking - this is middle class England after all.

Actually, Karren Brady was later subject to a put down from a man, although completely unintended as I later found out. Salisbury's Mayor, Councillor John Collier, took the podium after Karren to thank her for her tour de force. In so doing he managed to mangle his words and infer that she had not told us anything new but he hoped the audience had appreciated her enthusiasm. On leaving the event I shook his hand and asked "I hope you don't regret saying Karren had nothing new to tell us?", he had the good grace to flush and say " I didn't mean it like that...you know what I meant!"

Certainly the Mayor's slip went unnoticed by the audience as there where many there who were clearly huge Karren Brady fans. During the Q&A session she was asked to comment on a range of issues facing women in business, here are some I can remember:

Did she think the government had gone far enough in the recent childcare tax relief announcement? Answer - In short, no there is still a long way to go, but each step helps.

How does she manage her work/life balance? Answer - she splits her week between London and home, from Thursday through the weekend she is at home for her family

How many women does she employ? Answer - Obviously it's an all guy team! But Karren said 60% of the off pitch staff are female. (I have checked this in so far as I can and of the 6 directors of W H Holdings Ltd which owns the Club Karren is the only female and the Club’s website show only 3 females make up the of 14 “executive” positions.)

How does she encourage women to enjoy football? Answer - she ensures the whole family can experience a day at the game, through family friendly price tickets to education programmes in local schools.

What does she do for "me time"? Answer - She reads. Voraciously. Usually articles on business.

For me, I was less interested in her femaleness, much more interested in her business experience. It seems to me, having watched her career and now heard her speak, that Karren's success is built on foundations of hard work, clear vision and pure determination. These are attributes common to both men and women, they are not gender specific; they are the building blocks for any "person in business".

Regards, Sophie White - Director