The CEO whom I’m waiting to chat to for an upcoming TV series strides through the revolving glass door.

“You’re early!” she comments.

I apologise but nonetheless follow her as she gets into the elevator.

Once the doors close she drops her over-sized tote bag onto the floor and reaches in for a pair of skyscraper heels. She kicks off her flats, her bunions bulging out on the sides of her feet, and then she sets about shoehorning her feet into her red-soled shoes.

Moments later the elevators doors ping open and her earlier stride is now slowed as if she’s walking on ice. Once seated behind her desk she releases her feet from their prison.

We chat, she’s generous with her time and stories, clearly super smart and ambitious - the type of woman I’d like to be when I ‘grow up’.

Later she gives me a tour of her company which spans several floors; we’re accompanied by a couple of senior staff – both male. As we walk, I notice she struggles to keep up because she’s wearing the heels again, in fact we had to wait for her to put them on and insists we don’t film her without them.

I had long stopped wearing heels because most of my working days were then spent on my huffers, helping carry camera equipment, or generally legging it around the place.

When we exit the building to tour the second half of the company, which is located a street away, she suggests we drive. The cameraman tells her we’re ok to walk, thinking she was considering the heavy TV equipment.

I agree we’ll drive, giving him a glance towards her shoes.

“I spend a ridiculous amounts of money on taxis for very short journeys all thanks to throbbing feet from four-inch heels!” she says in a low voice as we all pile into my car.

“Why don’t you just wear flats?” the cameraman asks bluntly.

“There’s just something about heels, isn’t there?” she says directing her attention to me.

I nod.

High heels at work have long held a certain authority, power and glamour. Flats were only acceptable if the journey to work was made by foot – all thanks to Melanie Griffith (Tess) in Working girl - but once at work you had to change into your heels.

However, wearing shoes that are so high and painful they prevent you from walking effortlessly is, I think, akin to strapping on a couple of cement blocks on your feet before a race. You’d never catch men wearing something that hurts, so why do we?

Why would you impair yourself even further in a business world that is already an uneven playing field? And fashion has, up until now, done nothing to support women, launching season after season of ridiculous shoes.

Walking shouldn’t hurt! And it certainly shouldn’t make us fall over.

So it’s a relief that this season if there is one thing designers agree on, it’s that flats are in fashion, they’re powerful and no longer stuck in the purgatory of casual wear. For me, this is the ultimate sign of respect from the male dominated fashion world.

As we frame up a last shot of the CEO she stands with her hands on her hips, wearing a red power-suit and royal blue shirt, and I can’t help but comment to the cameraman that she does indeed look like a real life Wonder Woman.

“Except Wonder Woman wore flats!” he replies.

Trina Rea is a columnist, best selling author and TV producer. When she's not juggling jobs she's juggling her two sons, both of whom are under two years, and is woken most mornings to the eldest screaming 'Tractor! Tractor! Tractor!'. She lives in rural Tipperary.