Gordon Brown has announced a mentoring scheme to encourage women into business.
The Prime Minister spoke as he and his wife Sarah hosted 40 of the world's most successful women at a lunch at No 10 marking International Women's Day.
Mr Brown said: "We need to encourage more women to be successful and that's why we are asking some of the most successful women in the world to adopt, to mentor for several months, young girls and teenagers in Britain so that they can encourage them to aspire to some of the successes that have been achieved in different walks of life."
Women from the top of industry, media and politics in the UK and abroad attended the lunch reception. They included Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney ABC Television Group; Yale University vice-president Linda Lorimer; Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman and Sun editor Rebekah Wade.
Mr Brown invited his guests to mentor one woman from a disadvantaged background in a work placement of three-six months.
The idea of the scheme is that those women would be inspired to realise their potential.
The businesswomen and their "mentees" will then be invited back to Downing Street to discuss their experiences once the placements are over.
Mr Brown said the Government wanted to do more to help women break through the "glass ceiling" through the Talented Enterprise Initiative, by enabling more to start businesses, to get better opportunities in the workplace and to achieve a better balance of work and family life.
"I think International Women's Day sends a message about that - we can make a difference and everybody has got to work together to do so," he added.
Mr Brown said that 80 years after women were given the vote on an equal basis, it was important to ensure they have opportunities in all walks of life.
