Growing up with a bold feminist in my mother, I witnessed her march magnificently from mini to maxi, fashions so obviously linked to powerful statements of female progression, equality and recognition. I knew no other than freedom of expression in all the forms it came in; art, theatre, fashion, literature and music.Collection: Equality
Only three per cent of people are born with a disability; the rest acquire it through accident or illness, but people come out of it. Thanks to medical advances, bodies heal.Collection: Medical
Politics is all about trust. Trust is like the soul: once gone, it never returns.
What I like to see is people like Beyonce. Here is a woman who is bling-a-ding. Not only does she look like that and act like that - I've seen her perform, and I was blown away - but she is at the top of her profession.
My dissertation focused on the character traits and personality types of successful women.
If feminism was a dress, it would be that essential little black number, reached for in times of need; different for everyone but a steady constant in a woman's life. Outspoken or understated, demure or provocative, worn to reflect the mood, the personality, the time.
I work with a host of amazing women who act as role models, who give their spare time freely to encourage these girls to give things a go, to reach out and take a chance and to explain that should they fail, well that's just a part of life.
Lifelong learning is becoming commonplace, with people studying at different times when they see the benefits of doing so.
We have seen a shift in the focus of education before entering the workplace, with earning and learning the new norm.
It is only by giving people the tools to empower themselves will they be able to achieve their potential.
People no longer have one job for life, so it is right that younger generations adapt.
Work experience for many is their first taste of work and an essential first step into the jobs market.
Not only does work experience provide the opportunity to sample a potential career, but it also builds the essential skills often regarded as 'soft skills' that are needed to thrive in work.
I, for one, want to make sure we give every young person the chance to find the fuel for their confidence, something that will power their ambition.
Everyone deserves the chance to make their own choices. The first step on this pathway is experiencing the working world.
Outside Westminster, political debate must seem like white noise that bears little relevance to people's everyday lives. But political choices made by the governments we elect have a real impact on how we live.
Labour parades compassion for the poor, but it practised casual cruelty by consigning millions to benefits. Yet there's nothing compassionate about being trapped on benefits, being robbed of the dignity of work, and shut out from the choices that brings.
Labour's disastrous legacy and the Conservative success did not happen by accident: it was about the choices each party made, choices that impact on everyone.
Every Labour government has left office with higher unemployment than when it entered.
I'm forever being told, and intrinsically understand, that people want to study at different times in their lives, often inspired to do so when they see the practical benefits of their studies.
Top performers in their fields such as Debbie Moore, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Deborah Meaden and Jo Malone, did not go to university and are just a handful of the individuals who show that with drive and determination, you can succeed by treading your own path.
When I speak to young people around the country, I'm impressed with the confidence and self-assuredness with which they look to the future and the range of options they consider beyond traditional routes.
Life teaches you it's not where you come from, it's where you get to, and work is exactly the same.
Universal Credit claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction.
Success isn't anything to do with being lucky. It's knowing what you want, taking the necessary action, and believing you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
We all have dreams, whether it be about success in our careers, improving our relationship with family and friends, or sorting out our finances.
The government should only have one voice so the country knows what we stand for, so the world knows what we stand for.
If that is your route, to go to university and get a job that way, that is fantastic.
If your route is that you are practically minded, and that is what presses your button, and you do an apprenticeship and you get a job that way, that is fantastic.
That is what we should be doing: liberating everyone's potential, whether it's a self-made individual, whether it's someone taking the university route, whether it's the apprenticeship route. They are all equal and good and worthwhile.
To think that we are all the same and going to follow the same journey, that is wrong. We are going to support and liberate people, to give people as many opportunities to succeed as possible without being prescriptive.
My friends have always known there was this more serious side to me, and all my life, I've had Conservative values.
I have had long relationships but have never married.
Politicians themselves, every one of us, has a responsibility to make sure that we send out a message that it is a good place to work, that it is positive, that you are transforming people's lives.
The behaviour of several male politicians against me has never been condemned by Ed Miliband, or the Labour Party, and it needs to be because in the end, it will have a long-term corrosive effect for politics full stop and for young girls who want to go into politics.
Politics has to be a place where women want to go.
Sometimes, for girls, it's about building confidence and giving them a can-do attitude. It's seeing role models, people like yourselves, doing those jobs and achieving them, just to say, 'I can do that.'
You only have a true choice when you know what opportunities are out there and what qualifications you need.
You wouldn't try and make a cake without a recipe book. Careers are just the same.
One of my best friends was the first U.K. female fighter pilot.
People who have been successful in business have a huge amount to offer young people who are just starting out.
Our young people are some of the best and most talented in the world - they are driven, entrepreneurial, and innovative - and with the help of people who have already made it in the world of work, they can go on to be the bosses and employers of the future.
I ran my first campaign when I was 11. My slogan was 'Vote McVey, vote the right way.' I've never surpassed it!
The people I believed in were people like William Lever, the great philanthropic industrialist - self-made men who realised anyone could achieve.
My dad started off in scrap metal, real men doing men's jobs.
Life is about hard work and getting on with things.
Life is not a theoretical problem to be solved in class.
When I became minister for employment, that was my ideal job because it meant I was able to reflect on what I saw growing up and actually try to change it.
There is a whole host of people that have got an accent like mine, whether they're from Merseyside or Wales or the North West.
Has my accent held me back? I don't believe it has at all. I think it can be a colourful accent.