Baroness Hayman: 'Women who refuse to be intimidated taught me everything I know in politics' And institutional sexism was certainly alive and well in Westminster. For example, on arriving in Parliament after my election, I was told that, as a Member, I could now enter all and every part of the building (to this day, Parliament is governed by strict rules of access). But, when I first took advantage of this privilege and went through a door labelled "Members only," I found myself facing a row of urinals. The meeting will focus on mentoring, and specifically schemes to support women entering parliaments. While I had much informal support, there is no doubt that a mentor would have helped; someone to provide practical advice as well as reassurance and a sense of perspective. In the House of Lords we now provide mentors for all new Members, men and women. For some of the women attending the conference, the current situation in their own countries will be far more challenging even than the Britain of 1974. Others will have useful lessons for us. Not every woman will welcome formal mentoring, though, and not every woman will prefer a female mentor. Mentoring schemes should, however, be available when wanted, and with the technological resources now available they should be fairly easy to administer. Caroline Criado-Perez's The Women's Room, tailored for peer-to-peer exchanges, might be a good model. Mentoring, however, is only one factor in encouraging women's participation. Just having powerful role models already there provides important motivation and encouragement. This applies not only to Parliament, but equally to male dominated sectors such as banking and technology. Mentors are not merely there to advise on specifics. They can give you confidence to use your difference to your advantage - to stand out from the pale, male crowd, rather than feel an oppressed minority, and to lend much-needed moral support when juggling competing demands becomes even more challenging than usual. To remind you that women's participation is not merely a matter of equity, it is essential to ensuring the necessary variety of skills, experience and attitudes at senior level across society. Mentoring, formal or informal, allows us a way of celebrating the achievements of previous generations of women whose struggles were tougher than ours, and to encourage future generations of young women to believe in themselves. Baroness Hayman, 64, is a life peer in the House of Lords. She was a Labour Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979 and became a member of the Lords in 1996.