SEXISM is still “systemic” in Britain as women get lower pay, fewer work opportunities and are more frequently assaulted than men, researchers announced yesterday.

A report on gender inequality by the Young Foundation left women’s groups incensed as the “cumulative impact” of social hurdles women face becomes “one of the greatest social challenges of our time.”

Research revealed that women were still more likely than men to live in poverty as as the pay gap remains at 19 per cent in the last nine years.

More than one in four women are paid less than the living wage and less than 30 per cent of larger charities’ board members are women.

Women’s Resource Centre CEO Vivienne Hayes told the Star that the report “confirms what we have been saying for years, that women’s inequality is systemic, institutionalised and pervasive.

“The additional discriminatory impact of austerity measures has only served to further women’s inequality.

“At a time when women’s specialist independent services are needed more than ever we continue to face an almost hostile environment which ignores our expertise and our voices.”