There is no denying the fact that the percentage of women in the workplace has increased substantially in 50 years. Moreover, the type of industries that women work in has become more varied as well.

Nowadays, of course, you do have traditionally female industries still prevalent, but you also see women in mechanics, engineering and technology - as it should be.

Women are now more independent than ever and are able to build a financial life for themselves, separate from any male partner. This would have been unthinkable in the fifties and now a woman can have her own mortgage or annuities entirely on her own.

However, and it really is a massive however, recent amendments in law may actually transpire to be counterproductive to encouraging even more women into the workforce and into the industries such as technology. Although successive governments feel they are doing the female employee a favour, by extending the length of maternity pay and the amount she would be entitled to, small and medium sized businesses simply cannot cope with such a financial burden.

They cannot afford to pay the mother maternity pay and then hire someone else to cover those months as well. There may well be a financial obligation for that employer to cover these statutory payments, but trust me, more and more companies will be dissuaded from employing a female of child-bearing age. In fact, statistics are starting to reveal this exact trend.