This revelation by guest speaker Workability's Kaija Talviharju raised more than a few chuckles at Batemans Bay's own Women's Day event, held on Wednesday.

Ms Talviharju spent four months in Mongolia, arriving in mid-December a few years ago with her teenage children, to temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Ms Talviharju said daily life could be a struggle in the former communist nation, which became a "developing country" overnight when Soviet funding was withdrawn.

Extended families traditionally lived in a large tent with a central fire, the women running the household while the men herded.

It was a lifestyle that taught women independence, a trait now coming to the fore as more women gained a university education and employment, in turn helping improve their circumstances and their society.

Ms Talviharju said Mongolian women were finding a new identity that comprised of both femininity and strength.

And she described Australian women as being in a privileged position in which they can help others.

"By lifting the position of women we lift children, families and the economy because for every girl that is educated there is a flow-on effect."

Bay matriarch Robyn Innes asked those present at the local event if they understood the power women hold in their hands.

"We have the power to do what ever we want. We have been subjugated, not by men but by our inhibitions."

She encouraged women to embrace the simple pleasures of their lives, like their families, and to empower themselves.

"I love being in Australia and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else; let's look after the women of the world."

MC Kris Van Schieveen said all those present were given a wattle seedling, a symbol of women's adaptability and diversity - "and when we bloom we're beautiful".