if something goes wrong everyone notices. Why don't women [sponsor other women]? Because it's not a behaviour that they saw modelled." E&Y has instituted sponsorship programmes at its branches all over the globe. Noor Abid, the company's assurance leader for the Middle East and North Africa, for instance, is leading efforts to overturn customs that get in the way of women's progress in the workforce by helping establish flexible working hours throughout the region. Brooke, who was a member of the UN commission on the status of women in 2009 and 2010, says: "The single biggest employment issue for women -- and it doesn't matter what country you're living in -- is flexibility. It's so important to not let the traditional majority culture silently push women out of the workplace." In the Fortune 500, women currently make up 34 per cent of senior management, but they comprise only 3 per cent of chief executives. At E&Y, the numbers are not any better. The company's gender equity efforts started with a focus in the US in the mid-1990s. since then, the presence of women in top executive management positions has increased from zero to over 20 per cent. Today, three of out of 16 members of its global executive board are women. Sponsorship and a conscious effort to change promotion policies will bring about improvements, she says. "It sounds trite but when a leadership role comes up in most organisations, the person doing the hiring just thinks about who they know,