The proportion of women recruited by leading companies fell last year despite an increasing majority of university graduates being women.

A report by the Association of Graduate Recruiters based on information from 200 of the country’s top employers, shows that 39 per cent of fast-track graduate recruits were female — compared with 42.6 per cent in 2006.

The drop comes despite government initiatives to encourage women to apply for senior positions and consider working in sectors traditionally dominated by males. Women now account for 57 per cent of all graduates from British universities.

The association said that research was needed on why the rate of female recruitment was now dropping.

Top firms look abroad

Employers are prepared to widen their nets to snare the right candidate

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Business experts suggested that companies may have stopped focusing on recruiting women in their drive to meet targets on recruiting members of ethnic minorities.

The association found that campaigns to increase racial diversity had been successful, the number of graduate recruits from ethnic-minority backgrounds rising in the last year from 15 per cent to 27 per cent of the intake.

Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the association, described the figures on the recruitment of female graduates as “concerning” and said companies needed to examine whether their selection processes were to blame.

“They have to make sure they reach the whole of the graduate population. Graduates may have misconceptions and it’s the responsibility of the industry to put that right.”

Patricia Peter, of the Institute of Directors, said that the figures on female recruitment were an indication that many firms were not dealing with the “glass ceiling”. She said: “Women know about the gender pay gap and tend to feel they’re not going to succeed at the same level as men. They see there are very few major companies with women on their boards.

“There is also the issue of flexible working, with young women questioning whether they are going to be disadvantaged if they take maternity leave.

Companies should be checking their own procedures, she added. “Maybe female diversity has dropped off the agenda and is seen as a bit old hat. The drive for ethnic minorities has perhaps replaced it.”

The Association of Graduate Recruiters, an independent body, questioned employers including Ernst&Young, Deloitte, BT, HSBC, Network Rail, McKinsey, Microsoft, Barclays and Unilever. The 200 firms surveyed recruit a total of 25,000 graduates each year.

The report concluded that the decline in the proportion of female recruits could be explained in part by the popularity among women of careers not covered in the surveys, such as nursing and teaching. However, that did not account for the 3.5 percentage point fall since 2006, “and further research would have to be undertaken to establish the causes”, it said.

The results follow several government initiatives in recent years to promote the position of women in the workforce, from the appointment of a minister for women to greater maternity rights, a statutory duty on public sector employers to promote gender equality and a scheme to get more women appointed to public bodies.

Alison Maitland, co-author of Why Women Mean Business, said: “It looks like these recruiters are missing an enormous opportunity. Women are the majority of graduates. It is time for the real world to break into the boardroom and for the opportunities that women represent to be recognised.”

Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for female equality, said: “People tend to recruit in their own image.”

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