Economic gender equality peaked in 2013 and has reverted back to where it stood in 2008, according to the World Economic Forum, and at current forecasts it will not be closed for another 170 years.
Progress towards parity in economic opportunity has slowed dramatically to 59 per cent, and is now larger than at any point since 2008, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2016.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum said: “Women and men must be equal partners in managing the challenges our world faces – and in reaping the opportunities. Both voices are critical in ensuring the Fourth Industrial Revolution delivers its promise for society."
The annual benchmarking exercise measures progress against four indicators, which are educational attainment, health and survival, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
Economic growth is at risk and economies could be deprived of the opportunity to develop, the report noted.
There are a number of factors behind this decline, it said, including salary and a stagnant labour-force participation, with the global average for women standing at 54 per cent compared with 81 per cent for men.
Additionally, the number of women in senior positions remains low, with only four countries in the world having equal numbers of male and female legislators, senior officials and managers, despite the fact 95 countries now have as many, or more, women educated at university level.
Across the globe against all the indicators, the UK came in twentieth place following France in seventeenth and Germany in thirteenth.
Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden came first to fourth respectively.
Earlier this month, major financial businesses in the UK committed to big improvements in the fair representation of women in the upper levels of management.
Of a total of 72 firms who signed a charter the government drew up earlier this year for women in finance, 60 per cent have now committed to having at least 30 per cent of women in senior roles by 2021.
This includes 15 banks and 13 insurers, who together employ over 375,000 people in the UK.
The Women in Finance Charter, which is a voluntary initiative aimed at giving financial services businesses – those which meet the FCA’s definition of a financial services firm - flexibility to improve the position of women in their organisations, was devised in April by HM Treasury.
Elsewhere, the report addresses political empowerment, which has seen the greatest amount of progress since the the forum's inaugural report on this topic in 2006.
The figure now stands at over 23 per cent, 1 per cent greater than in 2015 and 10 per cent higher than in 2006.
However, only two countries have reached parity in parliament and only four have reached parity on ministerial roles.
