More than half of professional women (57 per cent) have never attempted to negotiate a pay rise, according to a new report.

Over half of female professionals (54 per cent) are unsatisfied with their pay, feeling it is not a fair reflection of what they do.

The findings from recruitment firm Robert Walters show that men are 23 per cent more likely to negotiate a pay rise at all stages of their career.

On average, men tend to receive an eight per cent increase in their salary following a negotiation, whereas women typically receive six per cent. As a result, men are more likely to feel their salary is an accurate reflection of the work they do (38 per cent versus 30 per cent).

Robert Walters surveyed over 9,000 professionals across the UK as part of the research into diversity in the workplace. The findings help to explain the persistent gender pay gap seen at nearly eight out of 10 larger firms.

The top three challenges to progression at work for women were lack of opportunities (41 per cent of female professionals), balancing work and family (35 per cent), and lack of training (24 per cent).

Over a quarter of men (27 per cent) say they know what they need to do to get a promotion compared to 19 per cent of women. More than one in five women (22 per cent) reported that a lack of confidence was a barrier to progression, compared to 13 per cent of men.

A third of men and women reported that they struggled to equally balance their work and family commitments. According to the research, flexible hours is ranked as the nation's preferred work perk, by 63 per cent of women and 48 per cent of men respectively.

A govenerment report showed that, in 2018, nearly eight in 10 firms (78 per cent) with over 260 employees have a pay gap in favour of men. Men are over-represented in higher paid jobs, while the proportion of women falls the further up the pay scale you go.

Chris Hickey, UK CEO at Robert Walters, said: "All the right strides are being made to get women into work - with female professionals making up 47 per cent of the workforce. The next steps is taking findings from reports such as this and acting on them. For example, women need to feel more confident about their value to firms and it is clear employers can do more to help empower them for scenarios such as negotiating pay rises or striving for promotion."