A new study shows just how under-represented women are in senior leadership positions across Hamilton and Halton.

Women are still hitting the glass ceiling in eight out of nine sectors analyzed across the region involving more than 2,500 top jobs, holding just 36.1 per cent of them overall.

Karen Bird, associate professor of political science at McMaster University and coauthor of the Women and Diversity EXCLerator Project, says it's important to lay out this long-standing disparity in order to measure how it's hurting the city.

"We're doing this because we want to really establish evidence — to figure out where women are in leadership in Hamilton. We haven't had a clear or comprehensive sense of that until now," Bird says.

The study — in partnership with the YWCA of Hamilton, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Women's Leadership Group and McMaster — looked at 2,565 leaders across nine sectors in Hamilton and Halton.

And right out of the gate, she acknowledges the figures are "stark."

The only sector where women are faring equitably is volunteer boards and executives — where they hold 51 per cent of the top jobs in Hamilton and Halton.

The corporate sector is where women are least represented, at just 17.8 per cent.

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, called this statistic, in particular, "disgusting."

While it dealt with the population closer to the glass ceiling, he says the report also has huge significance for those struggling to enter the workforce.

"It shows a need to ensure the cultural supports are there when people are getting started," he said. "For example, single moms … there's a real need for adequate child care. One of the other things we need to do is ensure people are being provided with a living wage so they are able to participate in society and gain opportunities."

He noted too the disparity between graduation rates in some sectors and the people who are leading those fields.

Fewer than one-third of top positions in the legal sector (judges, partners in large firms and Crown and assistant Crown attorneys) are held by women.

"There's certainly room to grow," Andrea Hill, a senior associate at law firm Evans Sweeny Bordin, said of her sector.

"Women account for 50 per cent of law school grads, but look about 10 years out … and that's not reflected (in partner data)," she said.

Data for each of the nine sectors in the study is broken down to illustrate not only how many leadership positions are held by women but the nature of those jobs, comparing the most senior versus mid-level leadership positions.

For example, the public sector has an overall average of 36 per cent — but of the 30 top executive jobs the study looked at, only 23.3 per cent are held by women. At the middle level, women occupy 47.7 per cent of director positions.

The political sector — where women account for just 35.1 per cent of elected officials — is another one where the numbers shift at each level.

Fewer than half (44.4 per cent) of our MPPs are female and less than a quarter of our MPs (22.2 per cent) are female. Women hold 18.5 per cent of our city council positions — yet 57.1 per cent of our school board trustees are women.

While the volunteer sector — where results are more promising — might be traditionally considered a more "female field," Bird stresses this is not simply because that's where women "want to be."

"These stereotypes are unfortunate, especially if they reinforce an idea that there are certain areas where women 'belong.' There should be women in all areas, across all sectors," she says.

And in the lagging sectors, "we should not assume they aren't there because they don't want to be," she says. "I think we need to be aware there are sectors that are really not very inclusive at all to women."

The study — modelled after a similar report from the Diversity Institute in Toronto — used publicly available data including photos, names and biographies from relevant teams and organizations.

The report is part of the broader Women and Diversity EXCLerator Project, which will take the analysis further, looking at ethnic diversity in local leadership positions.