New Zealand is slipping down the rankings of an international survey of the percentage of women in the senior management of business.
In 2004, New Zealand ranked fourth equal in terms of female representation in business management in the Grant Thornton International Business Report. At that point theproportion was 31 per cent. But by 2007 it had slipped to 24 per cent to rank 10th.
Pam Newlove, Grant Thornton director of business advisory services for New Zealand, said: "Perhaps because of the achievements of women in positions of prominence ... there is ... a perception that women are doing well."
"The reality is that, in the bigger picture, women have lost ground."
The survey comes as Theresa Gattung prepares to leave the role of chief executive of the country's largest listed company, Telecom, on June 30.
New Zealand still ranks ahead of Australia, where the level of female representation stayed constant between 2004 and 2007 at 22 per cent.
The top nine in the survey, in order, are the Philippines (50 per cent), Brazil (42 per cent), Thailand (39 per cent), Hong Kong (35 per cent), Russia (34 per cent), mainland China (32 per cent), Botswana (31 per cent), South Africa and Taiwan (both 29 per cent).
In New Zealand, the proportion of businesses with women in senior management positions fell from 69 per cent in 2004 to 63 per cent now, leaving the country in equal 18th place.
Of the 150 New Zealand businesses surveyed, 37 per cent had no women in senior management, 40 per cent had one, 13 per cent had two and 10 per cent had three or more.
