The number of women in higher management grades has risen slightly over the past year, from 20% to 21%, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.

The Volkskrant, which carried out the research among 35 of the top Dutch companies, says this is encouraging because higher management forms a pool of women who can move up into the top echelons.

This year saw the introduction of a ‘legally desirable target’ for female board members of 30% by 2016.

However, there is a long way to go, says the paper. Another report earlier this year said of the 213 board members of the biggest listed companies, just ten are women.

The Volkskrant’s research showed the best performing company is publisher Reed Elsevier where nearly half of higher management is female. Other companies that do well are property investors Unibail Rodamco, temp agency group Randstad and supermarket group Ahold.