Key management positions remain elusive to working women in top 200 Australian companies.

According to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), Australia ranks below the percentages of women executives in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

In its EOWA 2010 Australian Census of Women in Leadership, women are reported to “hold only 8.4 percent of board positions and eight percent of Executive Key Management Personnel positions.”

The census also showed women to hold “only 4.1 percent of line roles are occupied by women.” The figure remains the same since 2008.

In a media statement, EOWA Mairi Steele said, “ nothing significant has occurred in Australian business culture to address the systemic inequity that continues to prevent talented and capable women from contributing at this high level.”

Steele added, “there is till a long way to go before there is anything resembling equality.”

The EOWA report points at marketing firm Pacific Brands as the sole company that has “achieved near-equal numbers of men and women in its senior ranks.” The company with Sue Morphet as chief executive “has 50 percent female board directors and nearly 43 percent of females” in key management roles.