I had the privilege of sitting on a panel discussion this week with a group of outstanding women leaders from around the country. We were talking about a variety of topics all focused on careers and career growth.

The moderator was giving us questions, directing some of them to specific people to kick off and giving everyone the opportunity to weigh in. We talked about mentors and career paths. We talked about lessons learned and the ways in which we help others to grow. And we talked, as we must, about trying to achieve balance in our personal and professional lives.

One of the questions that was directed at me for the initial answer was whether I have any kind of “gender preference” when hiring, whether I weight a female candidate differently, helping to support the cause of women’s advancement.

I answered with total honesty that I believe that “a person is a person is a person” and their qualifications, skills, personality and attitude are what is most important to me. Whether they are male or female, what their ethnicity is, how they define themselves—that is really not what I pay attention to, it is not what matters to me. For good or for ill, my focus is on that person as a person and those differentiations just aren’t relevant.

I know that my answer drew mixed responses from my fellow panelists. I know that there are women who feel that we women in leadership must help other women advance and that decisions should be driven that way.

And I get that. I do. I have more than a few stories of gender bias that have played out in my career. Some of those stories are not ancient history either. Yet I believe that, at the end of the day, woman or not, I have still prevailed. And that’s because of my abilities, my persistence and the strong teams I have been privileged to work with.

Do I think that women face more obstacles because of our gender? Maybe. But I remember an interview once, years ago, when a male CEO said to me “Don’t you think it’s a disadvantage to be a woman in a position like this?” I looked at him, with a calm I didn’t feel, and said, “On the contrary, I think it is an advantage” and I went on to explain why.

We have to build ourselves, our confidence, our skills. We need to communicate our strengths. And we need to live in a world where that’s all that matters when we hire someone. It has to start somewhere. Hope it starts with each of us.