Women are still under-represented in leadership roles in the cultural sector workforce, according to a new study.

Research from City University London – in association with the Demos think-tank and with funding from the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Enterprise – found that there is still a glass ceiling in place in the industry, with only 28 per cent of organisations surveyed having a female chair of the board. Museums and music organisations showed the least number of female boardroom chairs.

The figure for female CEOs is higher at 47 per cent, but this is still out of proportion to the percentage of women who work in the sector.

A total of 121 organisations comprising museums, statutory funding agencies, theatres and music, dance and arts venues were quizzed on the gender composition of their workforces at different levels of the organisation.

In the junior, middle and some senior management jobs, the figures are weighted in favour of the women, with their share of the cultural workforce standing at 64.2 per cent. The ‘glass ceiling’ therefore, kicks in at the most senior levels.

The author of the report, Helen McCarthy, said: “Assuming this picture stands for the entire sector, this raises the question as to why organisations might struggle to recruit younger men at lower entry levels.

“Clearly, it would be preferable to achieve gender balance at the top by first achieving it at the bottom, rather than by promoting a disproportionate number of the male minority already in the sector.”