As long as I can remember I have embraced the concept of women’s empowerment. As a young woman my beliefs took the form of obstinacy and insult when a man dared to open a door for me or pull out a chair. I believed a strong woman could do that herself and the thought of accepting a man’s help was intolerable.

With maturity has come the understanding that my power as a woman does not lie in refusing good manners or politeness but in pursuing a course of action with a strong determination, embracing my allies which include both men and women.

The global cosmetics industry is worth over $10 billion and women are the primary consumers for cosmetics in order to appear prettier, younger, and sexier. And I venture to say we are doing this, in part, to impress the men in our lives as well as for our own self esteem. So maybe we have to take a step back and be more tolerant when a man, rightly or wrongly, uses the idea of “prettier” when referring to a gender diverse board. We, as women, are partly responsible for creating the reference.

As stated in the WSJ this morning, Germany has one of the worst track records in Europe on female representation in senior management. Their female chancellor opposes quotas on the belief that companies should have the chance to “evoke their own free will”. As recently as 1977 German allowed men to force their wives to quite their jobs.

Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann stands out as a thought leader and supporter in this otherwise adverse environment. So he wants someone “pretty” – is that really a problem in a company that has a unique 16.5 percent of their senior management represented by women and who had a woman on its board from 1988 to 1996 – statistics that are not stellar by any means, but for Germany quite outstanding.

I do not condone Mr. Ackermann’s language but do suggest that we support rather than sanction the few male supporters we have.