Women make up just 10% of directors of FTSE 100 companies and 20 % of Parliament, according to a study by the Equal Opportunities Commission.

The Sex and Power: Who Runs Britain? 2007 report points out that the pace of change at the top in many areas remains painfully slow, and in some cases has even gone into reverse, despite the massive growth of women in work and public life.

Ethnic minority women are especially under represented, accounting for just 0.4 % of FTSE 100 directors and 0.3 % of parliamentarians. Ethnic minority women account for 5% of the population and 4% of the labour market and this percentage is growing and increasingly well qualified. Yet, an EOC survey of employers in local labour markets with above average black and Asian populations found that two-thirds of those who employ black or Asian women had none in senior roles.

The EOC has calculated that nearly 6,000 women are 'missing' from the more than 33,000 top spots across the public and private sector included in the survey.

Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC, says: "Today's troubling findings show just how slow the pace of change has been in powerful British institutions. They suggest it's time not just to send out the head-hunters to find some of those 'missing women', but to address the barriers that stand in their way.”