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Oxford and Cambridge universities have made progress over the past five years in providing opportunities for women, but there is still a long way to go, says a report from the Hansard Society.

The report, Women on top: progress over five years, returns to areas of public and professional life surveyed in 1990.

This year's report says: "There is still some distance to go before women gain parity with men, but the journey at least appears to have been started."

Although both universities have fewer women lecturers than the average - Oxford 18 per cent and Cambridge 14 per cent, against 23 per cent nationally - they come out above the average for women professors - 7 per cent in Oxford and 6 per cent at Cambridge against a 5 per cent national average.