Women are given less support than men in their management careers, which may interest business insurance holders.
According to consultancy firm DDI, female managers are given less specialist training at all levels of the career ladder than their male counterparts.
The research, which looked at 10,000 business leaders, including 3,800 women, found there are 28 per cent more men than women receiving specialist development at the first stage of management, with this increasing to 50 per cent at executive level.
Furthermore, women are given less support than men by business insurance holders when undergoing career transitions such as promotion or changing roles, while there is also less chance women will be given multinational responsibilities.
Mary-Rose Lines, senior consultant at DDI UK, commented: "The benefits of diversity at all levels of leadership are clear and well-documented, so to find that women are being held back by 'invisible discrimination' is both disappointing and worrying."
Recently, Katja Hall, director of human resources policy at the Confederation of British Industry, claimed the equity bill could be problematic if it requires business insurance customers to publish their average male and female pay.
She suggested companies with few women in higher-paid positions could see less applications from female candidates, despite attempting to recruit in this area.
