Culture minister Margaret Hodge has launched a publicity campaign aimed at increasing the number of women on the boards of arts and sports bodies.

According to government figures, only one in three of the 600 governing posts on DCMS arts and sporting bodies are women. Hodge has set a target to raise this proportion to fifty per cent.

Launching the campaign, which will see adverts appear until the end of the year, Margaret Hodge said: "Too often when I meet the boards of cultural and sporting bodies in our sector, the number of women present is woefully small.

"Addressing this issue isn't about political correctness. It isn't about box-ticking. It's about acknowledging that women have long since earned their place at the table and, where they are missing from the mix, it is right to intervene to correct it."

The bodies concerned include Arts Council England, English Heritage, The British Museum, Sport England and the National lottery Commission. They have combined budgets, from the public purse, of around £2 billion a year.