Women's progress up the corporate ladder is so slow that it would take them 40 years to catch up with men, according a new Catalyst study.

The study found that average growth in the percentage of corporate officer positions held by women tumbled to 0.23 percentage points per year, the lowest yearly increment in the past ten years. Between 2002 and 2005, the total number of women corporate officers increased by just 0.7 percentage points to 16.4 percent.

"According to the census, the average Fortune 500 company had 21.8 corporate officers in 2005; on average, women held only 3.6 of these positions. Women occupied only 9.4 percent of clout titles (those higher than vice president2), up from 7.9 percent in 2002. More than one-half of the Fortune 500 had fewer than three women corporate officers. Only eight companies in the Fortune 500 were led by a woman CEO in 2005, and none of those companies were among the Fortune 100. Women held only 6.4 percent of top earner positions, up just 1.2 percentage points from 2002."

This is more than just a parity or diversity issue.

It's actually about dumb business and I explain why here.

Basically, it leaves us with companies with connections into the market that are not as strong as they should be. Keeping 50 per cent of the population on the outer effectively ignores lots of business opportunities.

Which explains why women and minorities are leading the trend of creating their own businesses, outstripping the rate for white males, according to the official stats.

It also explains why they dominate in the number of home-based businesses.