12% of City management women: Study

Women account for just one in eight top management positions in the City despite the proportion doubling in the last year, new figures show.

Research by recruitment firm Astbury Marsden found only 12% of those employed at managing director level - just below the board - were women, up from 6% in 2012.

Meanwhile, the figures showed only 20% of all professional-level City employees were women, up from 18%.

It also revealed that 19% of those in director or vice president positions were women, up from 14% in 2012.

The proportion was slightly better than the 17.3% of directorships in the FTSE 100 group of companies held by female executives.

A Government-backed review by Lord Davies of Abersoch has called for a minimum 25% female representation on boards at these top firms by 2015.

The Astbury Marsden research found that there had been a substantial increase in women across the City taking up senior roles in investment banks, fund managers and insurers.

But they were still much more likely to be found working as HR professionals or internal auditors than as stockbrokers or private equity staff.

Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden, says: "Our research demonstrates the fact that a higher proportion of women working in the City are now breaking through the glass ceiling and reaching senior management positions."

"However, there is also the question as to why the women have a much lower overall representation in some of the higher-paid areas of financial services such as positions in corporate broking and stockbroking or positions in private equity."

The figures also showed that the City workforce was more ethnically and religiously diverse than the rest of the UK, with 70% white compared to 86% across the country.

Just 41% of those in the square mile said they were Christian, down 5% since last year, and compared with 59% in the UK. Hindus numbered 8%, compared with 1.5% across the country.