At midday today I will be going to a meeting - one that matters a great deal to me and a great deal to Sky. The others attending will be a selection of female employees from across Sky plus a group of young women from a local west London school. The reason - International Women’s Day, an event which is close to my heart and which I’m proud to have introduced and been involved with for several years.

When I remember back to my first job, the workplace was a very different place, barely a handful of women were in managerial roles. Today, opportunities for women in the media industry are greater than ever. At Sky we’re proud that around 40% of managers are female and that a variety of different roles are held by senior women throughout the business, from my area of entertainment and broadcasting right through to strategy, finance, legal and HR.

As a business, we know it’s far better for Sky to have a balanced workforce that reflects the customers we serve - after all its been widely reported that women make over 80% of buying decisions in the home! Women offer a different set of skills and have a different perspective to men and businesses who take advantage of this by promoting women to senior positions will reap the financial rewards. As can be seen by the wide push to get more women as Non Executive Directors on company boards.

However, whilst much gets said about how companies themselves can ensure women reach their potential, far less gets said about the part women themselves play. It is not up to companies to hand jobs to women on a plate, nor to waive the process of hard work and determination that makes success an achievement rather than a given. Women have a responsibility to put themselves forward more and take advantage of opportunities – to step up to the challenge.

No doubt there is still more to be done on both sides. At Sky, we recognise the importance of providing positive role models, not only for our own people, but for girls and young women around the country. And we know there is more to be done.

International Women’s Day is an important moment to reflect on these issues, but it is also a moment to celebrate the achievements of women and the huge progress that has been made so far. The school-girls I am speaking to today will enjoy greater opportunities than those ten, twenty or thirty years ago, and my advice to them today will be to go out and grab those opportunities with both hands.