It is International "Women's Day" today. This may not be headline news in Britain, but here they make a big deal of it. So I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon to celebrate the phenomenon of femaleness:

"Women are like a box of chocolates", to misquote Forrest Gump... Here are some of the deliciously complex and contradictory flavours of femaleness:

Fearlessly adventurous; hesitantly cautious;

Determinedly independent; trustingly reliant; 

Recklessly impulsive; carefully measured;

Fiercely faithful; inexplicably fickle;

Indescribably strong; winsomely vulnerable;

Deafeningly chatty; mysteriously silent;

Fervently hopeful; hopelessly despondent;

Intensely possesive; endlessly self-giving;

Incredibly observant; surprisingly oblivious;

Acutely sensitive; resiliently tough.