Will changing demographics finally shift the workplace gender balance in women's favour? Are companies doing enough to attract potential female leaders? At a 'Women in Leadership' forum in Amsterdam last week, some top women gave their views.

One of the main questions lingering in the back of the minds of many of the young women in the room, students, recent graduates and early career movers invited by organisers QS Top Career Forums and voiced by one attendee was: why do so few of the qualified and talented women entering the marketplace make it to the top?

Research, said keynote speaker Carole Brennan of QS, still shows that women are well in the minority in the top jobs, despite nearly equal numbers of qualified men and women entering companies and professional firms. The numbers drop off alarmingly in relation to the level of seniority, so that by the time you get to board level female representation is minuscule.

For example, women hold only 8 percent of board directorships in Europe, according to research by run by the European Professional Women's Network in partnership with Egon Zehnder International.

Women themselves are seen as perpetuating this state of affairs through choosing to opt out rather than sacrificing personal or family life in order to 'succeed'. At a certain point in their lives, literature has it that women simply choose to go for a job which gives them a better work-life balance, whether this means shifting role within a large company or starting their own businesses. 

However, some companies are realising that many promising female employees leave, not because they can't 'hack it' but because they've lost faith in the institutions they've worked for and are tired of business cultures created for, and driven by, a male oligarchy.

But don't expect change to happen overnight, said Margot Scheltema, Finance Director of Shell, the Netherlands, reminding that women only started breaking into businesses and leadership roles around 30 years ago.

Women, we need you

Saskia van der Meij, Head of Management development at Dutch bank Rabobank, however, is concerned about time running out.

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