The number of women on the boards of Britain’s biggest companies has dropped for the first time in eight years, to under a third.

Gender parity consultancy The Pipeline found just nine-percent of Ftse 350 chief executives are female.

Representation among chief financial officer positions is 18-percent, despite more than 44-percent of chartered accountants being women.

Chair Professor Geeta Nargund, from St George’s Hospital in Tooting, thinks it’ll take a cultural shift.