A recent survey of 1,000 UK working women between the ages of 18 – 60 has revealed that two thirds believe they faced multiple barriers throughout their careers, rather than just a single ceiling on entry to the boardroom.

The survey, by Ernst & Young, identified four key barriers to career progression for today's working women - age, lack of role models, motherhood, and qualifications and experience.

When respondents were asked to identify what three things their organisations could do to remove these barriers, or better support women's career progression, the top answers were:

• More support after returning to work from having children (32%).
• More support at every stage of my career lifecycle (24%).
• More visible female role models (19%).

When asked the same question in relation to what government could do, they said:

• Enforcing companies to reveal the 'pay gap' between men and women (45%).
• Affordable child-care/ tax relief for childcare (43%).
• Policy guidance on flexible working for UK businesses (28%).