Seven in ten voluntary sector employees are female, yet just over four in ten charities are led by female CEOs or chairs. And in charities with turnover of £10m or more, women are in the top jobs at just 27 per cent of them.

These are just two of the damning statistics contained in Rowena Lewis’s explosive new report, the culmination of her research into women leaders in the sector as part of her Clore Social Fellowship.  Lewis analysed a number of existing surveys, Charity Commission data on 1,106 charities and conducted in-depth interviews with 22 women leaders to arrive at her conclusions.

In the report, Close to Parity: challenging the voluntary sector to smash the glass ceiling, Lewis concedes that women in the sector are closer to gender equality than their counterparts in either the public or private sectors, but they are still “not making it into leadership in the numbers we would expect”:

“Far from being close to parity, voluntary sector women face a ‘reinforced glass ceiling, one where the 68 per cent of female employees and 59 per cent of senior managers are simply not progressing into leadership in the numbers we might expect.”

She concludes: “The voluntary sector prides itself on its commitment to pursuing social justice and tackling inequality, but it is failing its women.”

As well as women’s under-representation in leadership positions, the report highlights the disparity in pay for men and women doing similar jobs. It quotes Acevo’s recent research that revealed an overall gap of 16 per cent between the salaries of male and female chief executives, and Charity Finance’s Leadership Survey showing that this gap rises to 18 per cent in the top 100 charities.

This gap is all the more insidious, Lewis said, for the fact that women in the sector don’t even know it exists.

The report also cites women’s experiences of discrimination at the hands of their male colleagues, such as instances of feeling undermined, facing stereotypes, feeling invisible and being sexually harassed.

Lewis concludes the report by issuing a challenge to various parts of the sector to take action to raise awareness of these inequalities and take action to address them. Umbrella bodies are urged to track trends and champion women’s equality; boards and recruitment agencies to offer more flexible senior roles and ensured CEOs are paid fairly, and for women to stand up for themselves and demand proper pay and recognition.