Last week, Sheryl Sandberg spoke of the women who motivate her. While millions have been inspired by Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai. Here, Josephine Fairley explains why it's so important to have female role models - and reveals her own

Today, I will be lunching in a room full of extraordinary women. It's the annual 'Women of the Year' Lunch, which honours those from diverse backgrounds and professions.

To me, it is absolute evidence that - far from trampling each other on the way to the top, or sticking knives in backs to get one over on female colleagues - most women are actually incredibly, impressively, wonderfully supportive of each other.

It is my experience - via networking groups, women's organisations, even my knitting club - that contrary to accusations of bitcheness, women are, actually, incredibly keen to help one another out.

There is a growing and glorious sense of sisterhood. A culture of 'how can I help you?' and 'who I can introduce you to, who'll help you take that first step onto the ladder, or leap forward with your business?'

The days of having to pretend we're ruthless and cut-throat are history. And, like Home Secretary Theresa May - who, last week, addressed a room of high-flying women in an attempt to encourage support networks and a celebration of female working practices - I agree we need to celebrate the 'different approach' to male colleagues that we take in business. (Although not yet, as May pointed out, in politics. Get with the programme, Westminster.)

I remember the first time I realised that women no longer had to pretend to be men.

I was at an event with City 'superwoman' Nicola Horlick. A few years before, she'd been all power shoulders and nifty suits: the female version of a man's tailored work uniform. Yet here she was, in a boho floaty skirt and mauve cardigan. The Home Secretary herself should, of course, never be 'reduced' to a pair of shoes - as she often is in the tabloids. But nevertheless, I applaud her, too, as someone who hasn't felt that she needed to disguise her femininity in order to secure one of the highest political offices in the land.

As a woman, I find other women constantly inspiring and motivating. We should all take time to recognise how far we've come - while never ignoring how far we still have to go, especially in developing countries. We also need to look at what we can do to support those women who have got further to go than we do.

Last week, at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Conference, Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg talked about her favourite Facebook page. It's called 'My Stealthy Freedom' and shows Iranian women risking terrible punishment by daring to remove their headscarves in public. Sheryl had someone translate her favourite picture on the site from Farsi.

'The grandmother writes, I wanted my granddaughter to feel the wind on her hair before it goes grey.' (The page already has more than 670,000 likes - you might want to add yours.)

I've always pinned pictures of women I admire on the walls of my office, as inspiration. My much-missed friend and mentor Anita Roddick is one. The artist and sculptor Beatrice Wood, who was still working at the age of 103 (wearing her long grey hair in a plait, with armfuls of Native American silver bangles and a proud slash of red lipstick) is another. Diana Athill, ninetysomething and still writing. (I have a bit of a thing for fabulous women over the age of 80, having every intention of becoming one myself.) And Malala, oh, Malala: that brave girl who has done so much to fight for the right of young women like her to have access to education and has now been rewarded with a Nobel Peace Prize.

It's why I celebrate events such as today's lunch - massive 'hurrah' to womankind. Last year, the real 'Made in Dagenham' strikers - whose fight for equal pay was a landmark for women in work - were honoured. There will be female high-flyers from the armed forces taking their places at the tables. Women who've founded extraordinary charities, sometimes inspired by their tragedy in their own lives. A couple of years ago, I sat next to the ultra-glamorous, mother-of-six (female) British Consult to Kabul.

I pinch myself at my good fortune to be invited to join their company - at this and a growing number of events like it.

And you can feel part of it, too. Why not spend your lunch hour - today, or any other - honouring women's achievements in your own way (and at your own desk). You could read about someone who has inspired you, find out who inspired them and share the information over social media. You could simply change the wallpaper on your smartphone to a picture of those who inspire you. Or, make a list of those things you have achieved this year and give yourself a pat on the back (after all, you should strive to be your own 'woman of the year' too).

Because Sheryl Sandberg is right: it's vital to recognise and acknowledge women we admire - whoever and wherever they may be.