The former prime minister's wife was delivering the lecture `Why Women's Rights Matter - A Better World For All' to a packed meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society at Manchester University's Place building.
The top barrister and judge told how male MPs, barristers and judges continue to outnumber their female counterparts while `some 30 years after the equal pay act' there was still a `stubborn wage gap'.
She went on to say that those women who did earn more, often had to sacrifice family life to do so. Mrs Blair claimed 49 per cent of women in corporate America earning over $100,000 had no children, while 43 per cent had no spouse.
She also said that on graduation women tended to earn 15 per cent less than their male peers in Britain.
Mrs Blair explained that this was not just because woman tended to work in `traditionally lower paid caring professions' but also because women were `lowering their ambitions and aspirations' because they anticipated `conflicts with career and family responsibility'.
She said it was not enough to have laws in place but that workplace culture needed to be changed.
This could be simple as allowing more flexible hours - even letting women come into work a bit later so they could take the kids to school.
Mrs Blair talked about how she had been inspired by struggles of women in the developing world who she had met. She described the belief that `women were not worth as much as men' as wasting the potential of half the world's population.
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society is the oldest society of its kind in the world.
Mrs Blair said: "It's a thrill for a Liverpool girl like myself to speak tonight - it's also a pleasure not to have to speak about myself."
She then described how she was really a Lancashire lass since she was born in Bury.
After the lecture Mrs Blair signed copies of her memoirs and told how life outside Number 10 was `very busy' and had given her the opportunity `to concentrate on the things I care about'.
About husband Tony she said: "I don't get to see as much of him, he goes away a lot more often."
Although she refused to be drawn on Gordon Brown's woes, Mrs Blair did comment on the US election.
She said: "There are a number of great things that have already come out of it - the whole world has seen democracy in action and that change is possible through peaceful means." And she described vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin as an `interesting phenomenon'.
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this is how I see it (05/09/2008 at 09:29)
Never miss a trick eh Cherie?
Bit like someone busking for their train fare.