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The government has urged FTSE companies to appoint a greater number of women to their boards in an effort to improve levels of equality.
At present, just 12 per cent of board directors at FTSE businesses are female, representing an increase of only one per cent since last year.
However, the government asserted that companies with a female chief executive or board director have been found to achieve a ten per cent higher return on capital.
Despite this, it estimated that at the current rate of appointments it will be 2050 before company boards have an equal number of men and women.
Speaking at the Institute of Directors' Women as Leaders conference, deputy minister for women Barbara Follett said: "Women are significant consumers and this should be reflected on boards. The business case for this is clear; more women can drive up efficiency, innovation, and profitability."
Ms Follett urged businesses to become more "family-friendly and flexible" to enable men and women to choose how they balance work and family life.
This ought to provide women with the opportunity to "reach their potential at work", she added.
Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, recently claimed that the UK "cannot afford to go on marginalising or rejecting talented people" who do not fit within "traditional" working patterns.
