When our world is becoming gender-neutral, there is still a vital place for women.

My two-year-old daughter is going through a funny phase at the moment. She is in the habit of asking everyone she meets whether or not they have a penis. “You got a willy?” she says innocently to men and women alike. Sometimes she volunteers her own thoughts in response to whatever answers she receives. “I don’t,” she says, “’cos I’m a girl”, and then wanders back to helping her older sister build an ice palace out of cushions, or whatever the latest project is.