Bosses can wear stilettos, too!

Chloe Watmore, 26, is managing director of thermotex, an engineering company in Chesterfield. She lives with husband Joe, 28, who works for the company in sales. She has a first in economics from the University of Birmingham. She says: Recently, I was on the factory floor and we had workmen in. they knew they were not allowed to use the forklift truck, but I’d spotted them near it and asked what they were doing. ‘We need to use the “fork” so don’t tell the boss,’ said one. I laughed — then I took the keys.

I wear stilettos, make-up and dresses, but first and foremost I’m the managing director and won’t stand for chauvinism.

I was recently in a meeting where it was clear that the men in the boardroom didn’t want to negotiate with a woman. After 15 minutes, I simply closed my book, told them I was not going to waste more time and left.

If I answer the phone in the office, most people mistake me for someone who works in admin. If I walk into a meeting with a male colleague, eight times out of ten, people will think he’s the MD, not me.

I’ve even had a stranger come up to me and ask me what it is I manufacture — he thought it was bras! I felt rather sorry for him to have such old-fashioned views.

I understand the pressure that women feel about toning down their looks if they’re in business. I joke that I have Barbie feet because I wear stilettos. But my dress sense gives me confidence. When judgment creeps in, it means women have to fight twice as hard to be taken seriously in engineering and we have to champion women in this field.

We hear about the men landing on the moon, but not about the women who worked to get that rocket off the ground — and that’s got to change.