As part of its Women in Leadership survey, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has looked at gender issues in the workplace to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The CMI says that a lack of self-confidence, the wrong role models and pay gaps are preventing female managers from achieving their full potential.

The white paper is said to build on the results of the National Management Salary Survey conducted by the body alongside XpertHR. Its 2012 study found that there is a lifetime pay gap of some £420,000 between female and male executives.

Amongst its recommendations for female managers, the CBI suggests identifying career goals at different stages, accessing career developments to date, keeping an eye on opportunities and evaluating progress.

Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI, comments, ‘The business case for more women in senior positions is clear.

‘Research has shown having women at the top is good business sense: firms do better with diversity. Sadly, for many organisations, it seems that Wonder Woman is still worth less than Superman.’

Francke highlights the FTSE 100, which has only two women CEOs, as a case in point and says that UK plc will continue to lose out on female talent if businesses don’t report on the progress and show what is being done to tackle the issue.

More on women in the workplace:

• Move towards more female board members
• Queens of e-commerce

For employers and line managers, the CMI recommends measuring and reporting on the proportion of women in the workforce, creating ‘supportive’ networks, and enabling women to be wives, mothers and carers by embracing flexible working.

As part of its Women in Leadership study, the CMI has signed up to the government’s Think, Act, Report initiative. The movement sees some 70 organisations including BT, Accenture, IBM and Marks & Spencer committing to promoting gender equality.

Maria Miller, minister for women and equalities, adds, ‘I am very pleased that the Chartered Management Institute have today signed up to the government’s Think, Act, Report initiative. More than a million employees are working in companies singed up to Think, Act, Report.

To sit alongside its commitment to the government’s new act, the CMI has also put forward suggestions to David Cameron’s coalition. It would like to see it a requirement that companies which have transgressed to publish aggregated pay data at all levels of the business. Additionally, the CMI is calling for a focus on the talent pipeline and inspiring younger women’s career aspirations by integrating management and leadership development into the education and skills system at every level, as mentioned in the Heseltine review.