The UK employs fewer women in managerial positions than Moldova Latvia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, new research has found.
Out of the 108 countries looked at by Expert Market using data from the International Labour Organisation Statistical Office, the UK ranked 41st with 34.2pc of female managers.
Also ranked 41st was Azerbaijan, while the UK is beaten in the rankings by the likes of Kazakhstan (37.2pc), Moldova (44.1pc), Latvia (45.7pc) and Belarus (46.2pc).
The UK also finished behind fellow major economies such as France (39.4pc), Russia (39.1pc) and Australia (36.2pc). However, it was ranked ahead of Ireland (32.6pc), Germany (31.1pc) and Spain (30pc).
The list is led by Jamaica, with 59.3pc of its managerial workforce found to be female. It is followed by Colombia with 53.1pc and Saint Lucia with 52.3pc. The top 10 also features the Philippines (47.6pc), Panama (47.4pc), Belarus, Latvia, Guatemala (44.8pc), the Bahamas (44.4pc) and Moldova.
The United States is 15th with 42.7pc, while China is 85th with 16.8pc.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Middle Eastern countries feature heavily in the list with the fewest female managers.
However, Pakistan is ranked as the worst country for employing women in top jobs, with just 3pc becoming bosses. It is followed by Algeria with 4.9pc and Jordan with 5.1pc. The bottom 10 includes Bangladesh (5.4pc), Qatar (6.8pc), Saudi Arabia (7.1pc), Lebanon (8.4pc), Oman (9.3pc, Egypt (9.7pc) and UAE (10pc).
“On average it would seem that women account for 30pc to 40pc of managerial positions around the world. That’s not too bad considering it wasn’t until relatively recently women started to really enter the workforce in many of the countries listed,” Expert Market said.
“While there’s certainly still room for improvement, perhaps the outlook isn’t as bleak as we once imagined.”
A report from Lord Mervyn Davies, the government’s champion of gender equality in the boardroom, earlier this week found that Britain’s largest companies are on track to hit a target of having 25pc female boardrooms.
Women now hold 23.5pc of FTSE 100 directorships, up from 22.8pc last October and almost double the number in 2011 when the target was set.
There are currently just five female chief executives in the FTSE 100: Moya Greene at Royal Mail, Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco, Carolyn McCall at easyJet, Liv Garfield at Severn Trent and Veronique Laury at Kingfisher.
By Andrew Trotman
