Angela Bailey, has been chief executive of Peterborough's primary care trust, NHS Peterborough, for just under two years. Angela is responsible for 1,400 members of staff and a budget of £275 million.

"You can be driving home at 9pm and all the shops are closed and suddenly remember that you haven't bought the protractor for your daughter's maths lesson that you promised you would," said Angela.

"And you feel guilty. I've got three children, the youngest is 11 and the oldest is 17, and even now I struggle to balance home and working life.

"But I have a very understanding partner, which makes 100 per cent difference when you're a working mum."

Feature:
You don't have to behave like a man to get to the top
The ET's Jemma Walton talks to some of the most powerful women in Peterborough, 19 September 2008.
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Angela joined the NHS in 1979, after realising that her planned career as a maths teacher wasn't for her. She has since risen to be the most powerful woman in Peterborough's health service.

"When I joined the NHS it was very male-dominated," she said. "I looked around and noticed that although the bulk of the workforce, the nurses and the carers, were women, the managers tended to be men.

"When I was 23 I sat my accountancy exams, and it was then that my career in management took off. And I think I was very lucky to do them before I had a family –studying, working and raising a family are very hard to combine.

"I think the NHS has got there in terms of equality," she said. "The NHS is a place where women really can achieve. But if a 21-year old woman told me that she wanted three children and to sit on the board of a FTSE 100 company, I'm not so sure she could do it.

"There are still companies that aren't flexible when it comes to working hours, and the environment in different companies can be harder for women, for example there can be a strong culture of competitiveness between individuals, and things can be aggressively performance-focused.

"Yes a company has to push forward and improve, but I think you have to strike a balance.

"But I would still say go for it. Peterborough is an unusual place, I think, but a very good place in terms of female role models. Young girls can look at what people like me, Julie and Gillian have achieved, and realise that the world is open to them."