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Women are "woefully under-represented" in Britain's boardrooms and political spheres, a far-reaching report has found.

Thirty years after the Sex Discrimination Act, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) says that the pace of change has been "painfully slow" in representing women in the country's top jobs.

In its final annual report before it is merged into the Commission for Equality and Human Rights in the autumn, the EOC says that 6,000 women are effectively 'missing' from senior position in the UK.

Sex and Power: Who Run's Britain claims that 90 per cent of FTSE 100 company directors are men, and only one-fifth of MPs are women.

Britain apparently ranks below Rwanda, Afghanistan and Iraq in terms of representing women in parliament, with the country coming in at 59 in the world overall.

The EOC explains that women from ethnic minorities are especially under-represented, accounting for 0.4 per cent of FTSE directors and 0.3 per cent of MPs despite constituting 5.2 per cent of the population and 3.9 per cent of the labour market.

And today's report also says that there is also a lack of senior female judges, police officers, council leaders and peers.

Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC, said: "Today's troubling findings show just how slow the pace of change has been in powerful British institutions. They suggest it's time not just to send out the head-hunters to find some of those 'missing women', but to address the barriers that stand in their way.

"We all pay the price when Britain's boardrooms and elected chambers are unrepresentative. Our democracy and local communities will be stronger if women from different backgrounds are able to enjoy an equal voice. In business, no one can afford to fish in half the talent pool in today's intensely competitive world," Ms Watson added.

Commenting on the commission's findings, Liberal Democrats women and equalities spokesperson Lorely Burt said it was "unacceptable" that women were not playing their part in the country's "key decisions" in the 21st century.

She claimed: "UK plc is losing out by not tapping into the pool of talented and enterprising women. Women are not asking for a head start, but simply the introduction of practical measures to ensure genuine equality of opportunity."