The Margin can reveal a few tips for women who are keen to get ahead. Firstly, women fidget. "Studies show that when men enter a conference room they make 12 major movements. Women make 27."

That's according to Women as Managers (Volume 98), Strategies for Success, a US based publication. According to an article entitled "Seven Things we do that keep us from getting ahead", many of these fidgety movements involve pulling out a chair and sitting down, but then women start adjusting their clothes and jewellery. The article says the more movements you make in businesses situations, the less powerful you seem to your colleagues. The solution?: "Become aware of what you do when you enter a room and try to keep your movements to a minimum."

Another trait which restrains women's rise to the top is that they introduce themselves too soon. "During the first seven seconds of meeting new people no one listens to what you say. They are checking you out visually and pay no attention to anything aural. That's why we often forget the names of people we've just met. We didn't really hear them," the article explains.

The solution?: When meeting someone new explain what you do first, then the company you work for, and finally your name. By that time the person you're talking to will be really listening to you and I assure you they will remember who you are," says the article's author, Mary Ellen Drummond, a "professional communications consultant".