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Despite the work of campaigners and legislators there remains a 'massive, massive under-representation of women in senior positions', an online resource for female entrepreneurs says.

Karen Gill founder of Everywoman explains that the situation today is not one of 'blatant sexual discrimination', but a disparity between male and female salaries as well as the unequal proportions of men and women in high-ranking roles.

She comments: 'In some instances, we're going backwards, we're regressing, because people think we're doing ok. It's imbedded in culture, and we've stopped fighting. I think we've stopped putting it at the top of the agenda.'

Ms Gill says that women can often feel excluded from masculine practices in the boardroom such as aggressiveness and confrontation.

Ex-Apprentice contestant and HR consultant Jo Cameron told HR Zone that female professionals often lose out because they have not learnt 'the language of the boardroom' and are often too modest in meetings.

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