WE all know that when it comes to the sexes all is not fair. But what I’ve come to realise as I’ve got older is that many of the things I loved about being a girl have become more burdensome while blokes still get it pretty easy.

Being a working woman has been a high-maintenance proposition that I’ve always accepted, but it does get harder as time goes by and one juggles the demands of family life.

A trip to the hairdresser would once see me madly turning the pages of fashion magazines to find the latest look.

These days I’m more likely to moan and groan about the time I have to spend having my hair done.

Shopping for clothes is also now a chore to be avoided and I hardly ever buy make-up unless it is for my daughter’s ballet concerts, and putting it on myself tends to be little more than a quick lick and promise as our family rushes to get to school and work.

Of course as a mum with a young and increasingly costly family I’m looking towards the future and making do at the moment while my once much more healthy disposalable income is depleted.

But being a mum who works part time has also made me think about the differing expectations of men and women in the workplace, especially the costs working women face to go to work unless they wear a uniform.

We all dress to impress, but it’s always been a much bigger issue for women in the workplace.

Men might complain about the cost of their business suits, but they only need so many and they can mix and match, and get years and years of wear from them.

A nice tie can be pretty costly, particularly when you think about the scrap of cloth it really is; but the blokes get off pretty lightly when you consider the cost of the average working woman’s wardrobe – shoes, bags, make-up, hairdressing and, of course, jewellery.

You might say women choose to spend this, and we do. More often than not we love our clothes and all the other paraphernalia.

But we ought also to have a good look at the expectations we place on ourselves, and ask whether women, who often work part time, generally earn less and have much reduced superannuation, ought to face such high costs just to turn up in a presentable fashion at the workplace.

Working women can be prisoners of our own expectations, and maybe we ought to be a bit more pragmatic in our own best interests.