GENDER equality is a thorny subject and has hit the headlines once again.

This latest exploration of the issue comes after Kevin Roberts announced his resignation from his position as executive chairman of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Mr Roberts – who hails from Lancaster and has a home at Grasmere – said he did not believe women had "vertical ambition", that he did not think the lack of women in senior roles “is a problem”, he did not spend “any time” on the issue and the debate was “all over”.

He was subsequently told to go on leave before announcing he would resigning from his post on September 1.

Saatchi’s chief creative officer Kate Stanners said Mr Roberts’s remarks had upset “a huge amount of employees” and the interview, delivered to magazine Business Insider , has provoked a debate in the national media about the roles that women play in modern day business.

In Furness there are also strong feelings on the role women can and do play in the world of business, many of which are very different from those of Mr Roberts.

One of the people with strong views on the subject was Maria Whitehead, the co-director of the Hawkshead Relish Company. This is one of Cumbria's most successful companies, which exports tens of thousands of pounds-worth of its products around the world each year.

In 2011, along with her husband Mark, who is also the firm's managing director, she was awarded an MBE for her services to the food industry in the county.

She said: "I do not think it is a gender division, I think both men and women are interested in having a happy and contented lifestyle and putting their family first."

Mrs Whitehead believes that Mr Roberts's comments reflect the "career is everything" attitude which was very common in the 1980s, when Mr Roberts would have been making his way up the ladder in the notoriously cut-throat world of advertising.

"I do not think it is a gender thing, I think it is everybody looking to be more content and happy and I do not think it is necessarily that women do not have that drive I think it is just that we are able to see the bigger picture we want to look after a family and work in business," she said.

"We have got a woman prime minister for heaven's sake."

She also pointed out that there are a lot of women in important roles across the north west, highlighting BAE Systems' Jackie Arnold, who is head of strategy at the submarine yard in Barrow and also sits on the board of Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership.

"Do not tell me that she lacks ambition," Mrs Whitehead said.

She pointed out though that there are challenges but that these can be worked through. In particular she highlighted the need to balance family and work priorities. She has two daughters, who both now work within the business.

"When they were growing up, if they were sick one of us (Mr and Mrs Whitehead) would have to take the day off to look after them."

She added though that, as a result of this, she would go into work at weekends to make up for what she had missed.

Another woman who believes strongly that women have a lot to offer in the world of business is Sandra Collings. She runs two businesses in Barrow, Cumbria Sewing & Craft Centre, in and Cumbria Embroidery and Print, both in Crellin Street. For much of the 29 years she has been in business she has been a widow and also responsible for raising three children. In addition she is also a board member of the newly-formed Barrow Business Improvement District (BID).

"I think he is way off the mark," she said. "You can see at bigger businesses that there are more males at the top but women can also strive to get to the top, I do not think there is anything that they cannot do."

She added that having family commitments can sometimes act as a barrier to the top but also pointed out that this also affected men in their careers.

Anita Garnett, joint-owner of the Ulverston Brewing Company, who sits on that town's BID, had her own views. She said: "I think it is all individual, some people get their pleasure out of cooking and that it their thing while other people get pleasure out of creating something and then selling it.

"I don not think it is 'one size fits all' everybody gets happiness in their own ways."

Mrs Garnett runs the firm with her partner Paul Swann and also has to fit work around caring for her grandchildren. She pointed out: "You can have a business and have family time as well."