Women make up just 10 per cent of directors of FTSE 100 firms, a new report has warned.

And only 20 per cent of people in Parliament are female, according to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) study.

The independent study group said that in recent years "the pace of change at the top in many areas remains painfully slow".

The report - titled Sex and Power: Who Runs Britain? 2007 - shows that ethnic minority women are especially under-represented in the top jobs.

Ethnic minority women account for just 0.4 per cent of FTSE 100 directors and 0.3 per cent of those in Parliament.

And this is despite the fact that they represent 5.2 per cent of the total UK population and 3.9 per cent of the British labour market.

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

Jenny Watson, EOC: "Today's troubling findings show just how slow the pace of change has been in powerful British institutions."

The UK currently ranks 59th in terms of women's representation in Parliament, and is out performed by the likes of Rwanda, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC, said: "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.

"Thirty years on from the Sex Discrimination Act, women rightly expect to share power. But as our survey shows, that’s not the reality."

The EOC is calling for the extension of the right to request flexible working to all and the availability of more high-quality, well-paid flexible and part-time work at higher levels.

The group also wants political parties to continue to take positive action before the next election to improve women's representation.

This year's survey marks the final Sex and Power the EOC will produce before it is absorbed into the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) later this Autumn.

The article Women still missing out on top jobs originally appeared on 999 Today