Girl power

Just because she was the first woman to win such an accolade, and make Oscars history, should be of secondary importance to the story depicted so powerfully in her Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker.

Yet "talent" and "merit" were two words that were barely uttered at yesterday's Downing Street summit – hosted by Gordon Brown and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman – to celebrate International Women's Day.

Ostensibly, this was a photo-opportunity to lament the number of women working in boardrooms across the country and, in Ms Harman's case, to lament the "old boy network" – even though

this appears to be the means by which her husband managed to circumvent rules on all-women shortlists to become a prospective Labour candidate in a

safe seat.

However, if Ms Harman had taken the trouble to ask each of her guests yesterday about how they have succeeded, they would have spoken about the importance of hard work – and that it is far more satisfying to achieve progress through one's talent rather than on the back of well-meaning, but flawed equality targets.