Nearly three quarters of women see the recession as a chance to escape their City jobs.

A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers has revealed nearly half the 900 women quizzed were going to move into smaller businesses or social enterprise after the financial downturn.

This could be a large backwards step for women’s rights in the work place, especially after large disparities in gender salaries have been raised. Last week the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings showed that the disparity in financial salaries were at 60 percent; twice the national average. Last year the Office for National Statistics showed women on average earn nearly £6,000 a year less than their male counterparts.

Sarah Churchman, director of diversity at PwC said: The by-product of the recession could be to stall or reverse the sector's gender diversity progress and investment, short-changing the UK economy's recovery by removing or alienating a generation of female talent. Securing and maintaining the recruitment, retention and development of women in mid-management roles now is the only way a pipeline of women in senior executive roles can be maintained in the recovery."