Three quarters of all news journalists are men while women make up just a third of journalists covering business and politics, according to new research conducted by Echo Research.

The report also found that male journalists make up 49 per cent of lifestyle reporters and 70 per cent of arts reporters, while just four per cent of sports journalists are women.

Looking at the whole newspaper industry, the study found that 30 per cent of the journalists surveyed were women.

Women were also found to be less likely to be in senior newspaper positions, with eight out of the top ten newspapers having almost twice as many male editors as women editors.

The study said women were most likely to be editors at the Sunday Times (40 per cent) the Times (39 per cent) and the Guardian (37 per cent).

Women were least likely to be in top editorial positions at The Daily Mirror (21 per cent) and The Sun (24 per cent)

The study found that The Independent had the lowest proportion of female staff, employing 25 per cent women, followed closely by The Sun (26 per cent) and the Daily Telegraph (26 per cent).

The Daily Mail and the Observer had the highest proportion of female journalists, both employing 36 per cent women, closely followed by the Daily Express with 35 per cent.

"The gender imbalance we have uncovered is shocking and it seems old attitudes are still alive and well in many places."

The research, which looked at staff across the leading 28 newspapers in the UK by circulation size, commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.

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