The number of female senior managers working in major UK businesses has taken a sharp fall of over 40% in the last five years, according to figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In 2002, women occupied 38% of senior managers in the FTSE 350, but this has now sunk to just 22%.

At the most senior level, things are moving in the opposite direction but progress is slow. The ranks of FTSE 350 female full-time chairmen or chief executives have grown, but can still be counted on one hand.

Sarah Churchman, head of diversity at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says: “Businesses tend to pay more attention to gender issues in senior positions and there appears to be an assumption that a supply from the middle ranks will eventually feed through. For big companies at least, this pipeline is shrinking at a worrying rate.”

The research found that Central London (7%), London (6%), Glasgow (6%) and Bradford (5%) have the highest proportion of women in senior roles.

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of chief executives from more than 50 countries found that only 47% UK business leaders agreed their company was as good at identifying, retaining and promoting female talent as male, compared to 64% of global chief executives.