On International Women’s Day, a new report based on the annual Grant Thornton survey of 5,520 businesses in 36 economies reveals a slight uptick of women in senior management positions from 22% to 24%, but a third of businesses still do not have women in leadership positions.

Globally, the number of senior leadership roles held by women is 24%, while 33% of businesses still have no women in senior management roles.    

The G7 is among the worst performing regions, with just 22% of senior roles occupied by women and 39% of companies with no women in senior roles. Two of the poorest performing individual countries are Japan, with just 7% senior roles held by women, and Germany, with 15%.

Meanwhile Eastern Europe and ASEAN report the highest proportions of women in leadership at 35% and 34% respectively, and just 16% and 21% of firms with no women in senior management respectively. Russia tops the list of individual countries with 45% of senior roles held by women, followed by the Philippines at 39%, where only 9% businesses have no women in senior management. 

Francesca Lagerberg, Global leader for tax services and sponsor on women in leadership said: “Companies across developed nations have talked the talk on diversity in leadership for long enough. It’s time to put their promises into practice and deliver results. We know that businesses with diverse workforces can outperform their more homogenous peers and are better positioned to adapt to a rapidly changing global business environment.”

The full report Women in Business 2016: Turning promise into practice will be available on from 8 March