While Yates believes the portrayal of women in advertising takes into account the diversity of their roles much more than it used to, she does not think that advertising "has any particular ideological bent, it really is there to reflect society as it sees it".

But she said outdoor advertising was "dragging the chain" by being "one dimensional and unhelpful" towards women.

Complaints were once dealt with by the Advertising Standards Council, which had the power to force advertisers to remove ads it deemed offensive. It was disbanded in 1997 and replaced with the Advertising Standards Bureau which is regulated by the advertising industry itself. "I must say I find the revamped ASB much more inclined to let market forces prevail and it has rejected far fewer ads than its predecessor," she said. " In my view that is a matter of regret. We have a responsibility to the community we serve. I think all advertising, as indeed everything we do in business ought to reflect people's humanity and innate human dignity."

Yates said one of the most useful things she had learnt during her career was that ''patience is a strategic weapon, as opposed to a refuge to people who haven't got the courage to make a decision, which is what I always used to think it was."

"That has been a real insight for me," she said. "I'm much more inclined these days to understand that not everything needs to be resolved immediately, that ambiguity can be good for us and to be much more willing to allow events to play themselves out, rather than try to force them to a conclusion."

As a placard-waving women's rights supporter in the 1970s, Yates believes young women are now in a "period of transition."

"I love it that young women do seem so confident and think that they don't need feminism and they can do anything they like, but the jury's still out on that," she said.

"After 30 or 40 years of women surging into the workplace, the evidence is we are still chronically underrepresented at the top levels of business and on boards, so I don't believe that time delivers equity for women.

"I could be wrong and young women may discover that their sheer weight of numbers will ensure that they get through, but there's no evidence to support that."

Yates's own road to the top was filled with obstacles. When she worked as a secretary in Brisbane, a colleague thought she would have a talent for sales and recommended her for a job selling advertising space at Channel 10.

It meant travelling out of Queensland for the first time and moving to Sydney with two children in tow. It was 1975 and, while she blossomed in the new role (''anyone who has ever persuaded a two-year-old to eat spinach can sell anything,") her boss told her he would never promote a woman. "These days [women] have the legal protection," Yates said. "It's only 20-odd years ago that people could say that to you with impunity."

When she moved on to Family Circle in 1978, she was its first female salesperson and soon became national sales manager.

While her work was going well, it was a different story at home. "The loneliest times were at night after the kids had gone to bed with no adults to talk to," she said. ''I always had a horror of single mothers who took rotations of 'uncles' home, so for many years I didn't date, didn't do anything. That was pretty isolating."

Prince Charming did turn up though. Through Family Circle, Yates met media buyer Michael Skinner, now 57. When the couple married 20 years ago, Skinner took on the role of stepfather to Anne, now 33 and a web content provider working in Singapore, and Matthew, 28, a musician.

It was the second marriage for Yates, the first for Skinner. With great happiness and pride, Yates said that Matthew recently asked Skinner if he would officially adopt him.

Yates hopes her career future includes more directorships and a continued involvement with the arts. "I feel very blessed at the moment. I'm almost contented: I wouldn't quite know what to do with myself if that happened."