Oxbridge education less of an advantage for women leaders and instead judged on personality, research finds

Study finds age and education are 150 per cent more likely to predict why a man is a senior leader in comparison to a woman

Women leaders are drastically less advantaged by going to Oxbridge or by their educational background than male counterparts and are instead judged on their personality, new research has found.

A report by Thomas International – which specialises in people assessments – found age and education could predict 25 per cent of the reason why a man was in a senior role, while personality and emotional intelligence accounted for 10 per cent.

But for women, the reverse was true, with age and education only 10 per cent of the reason why they had rose to the top, and 25 per cent due to their personality and emotional intelligence.