More than 5,400 women ‘missing’ from 26,000 top posts in Britain, report finds

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Equality and Human Rights Commission finds advance towards equality is tortuously slow and subject to frequent reverses.

More than 5,400 women are missing from Britain's 26,000 most powerful posts, according to a new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Sex & Power 2011 report, published on Wednesday, measures the number of women in positions of power and influence across 27 occupational categories in both the public and private sectors.

It found that advancement towards equality was not just "tortuously slow" but it "regularly stalls or even reverses" in some sectors. "British women are better educated than ever before. They are attending university in ever increasing numbers and achieve better degree results than men. Intelligent, competent women are flooding the junior ranks of law firms, accountancies and medical practices," said Kay Carberry, commissioner at the EHRC.

"These women step on the career ladder and work hard, with a position at the top firmly in sight. In their 20s they level peg with men and we would expect them to enter the management ranks at the same rate as men. However, several years down the track a different picture emerges - one where many have disappeared from the paid workforce or remain trapped in the 'marzipan layer' below senior management, leaving the higher ranks to be dominated by men."

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