International Women’s Day. There are so many strong women in our household and we nearly let this day go by without even a squeal!

Most of the time my three girls just go about their working day without giving their femininity a thought. It isn’t until they run up against a co-worker whose attitudes date from two centuries ago that they give their gender a thought. They then turn to the two ancient males in the household to discuss how to deal with their work problem. Neither of these two men have any tolerance for inconsistency when working with women or men. As professionals they have always expected those they work with to act and think the same without recourse to using femininity to gain an advantage.

My father never really acknowledged that he had girls and not sons; he treated us as individuals and expected us to achieve what ever we set our minds to. My husband raised four children for 8 years on his own. He wasn’t sure how to raise a 12-year-old girl, so he did what he did best; treated her as he treated her three brothers. She is now a delightful, well-balanced and successful professional in her chosen career.

I love being a woman and value my fortune in living in a country in which I can play any sport, try any career, wear what ever I want to subject to the ever critical eye of our girls, and think whatever I want to. This is freedom is valuable and worth protecting.

However on a much more trivial but still important issue, every morning as I dry my hair I am reminded that I am encroaching on no-woman’s land. You know what I mean. I have reached the age when there are too many grey hairs to pull out, and when I go for a walk with my daughters, they now walk faster than me. I have to work a little harder when doing my exercise routine and worst of all, I find myself picking out clothes that I then decide would look better on my girls than me!

Watching the Oscar parade I looked with envy at the glorious tresses cascading over the shoulders of the women on the red carpet. I adore having long hair, and I am sure it makes me feel younger but you know you are getting old when you start checking out hairstyles for the over-50 women on YouTube. In addition, I really don’t like what age does to your hair. I too once had gorgeous glowing hair, now I search out shampoos and conditioners, serums etc that bring back that youthful shiny look. I think I have; Klorane products which contain ingredients including oat milk, pomegranate and mango butter really do seem to work. I have tried their Mango Butter shampoo and Conditioner and even better because they don’t have an overwhelmingly sweet aroma my husband is happy to use them as well.

However if you truly want inspiration on how good a woman can look as she gets older, then read how supermodel, Christie Brinkley, who turned 60 this year stays fit. She even features in a bikini for Air New Zealand’s Safety video. Sure she has been endowed with gorgeous looks and she promotes the beauty industry, but she works at it and if she can do it, then women like us should not give into the gravitational effects of age. I think I will have to pin her image up in front of my exercise bike as encouragement.