We know it's appropriate (most of us) and now it's just a case of encouraging women to develop the skills necessary to take up leadership positions in our world. Doesn't matter the industry, sector, level or strategic context. The template has been laid down, women just need to have the confidence to master the skill and the seat is theirs.

The failure of women to take up or stay in leadership makes a lot of blokes suspicious, ie: it is easy, simple (relatively) and the real reason that women don't make it to or stay in leadership positions is because they don't really want them, they interrupt their careers to have children, don't have the assertiveness to be part of the C suite and, at it's most brutal, don't have what it takes. That's just the way it is, despite the real patronage of men who care.

Oh, I WISH - sometimes - it was THAT simple. But it absolutely isn't, and the mindset of both men and women is so often riddled with unconscious bias, lack of insight into the consistent (and resistant) blocks for women, and, perhaps from my perspective, not aware of (and so not alert to or encouraging of) the immense gifts women bring to the way we lead in our world today, that it is heartbreaking.

I don't want to repeat the data on inequality and unbiased prejudice that everyone should be familiar with. Been done. Instead, I want people to think about how our world might actually be a better place if men and women led in equal measure, not because we can do the same things as men, but because we can do things better differently.

Consider these little tasters: 

* Equal pay for women is not the issue. Women know, in their heart of hearts, that we are grossly over paying many senior male leaders. Question: are some leaders genuinely worth 100 times more than the next tier of leadership?

* Having children is a collective responsibility. Without children there is no future. When did it become the primary responsibility of women simply because we carry children in the first nine months? Where are the creches, the funding and focus on return to work?

*  When did individual achievement over take collaboration, where we reward and promote individuals for what they do on their own, and not what they do with others? When did 'I' become so much more important than 'we';

* When did we stop thinking in terms of the legacy we leave rather than the kudos we individually gain; 

* When did we accept a rapid decline in leadership ethics, such that the community no longer trusts politicians, lawyers, policemen, and certainly not corporate leadership and (according to an interesting piece of research done by Swinburne University) when did the highest level of trust in leadership move to the not for profit sector, and the 'others' - all of them, sit somewhere around 14 per cent or less;.

I am not suggesting women are the answer to all of our dilemmas, but I think they are a central part of the discussion.

- Fabian Dattner will be speaking at the beStella event - Courage or Confidence – A Conversation with Fabian Dattner on October 19 at Ulumbarra Theatre.  To purchase a ticket to the event call Capital Venues and Events on 5434 6100 or visit www.thecapital.com.au.