Career opportunities for women are better in Brighton and Hove than in most of the UK.

The city is in the top 20 when it comes to pay and conditions for women in the new media and technology-based industries.

Analysis, from the Local Futures Group (LFG), reveals the best professional opportunities are in London and the Thames Valley.

The worst are mainly in areas of the North, the Midlands and Scotland.

Brighton and Hove, at 14th place, offers excellent career and rewards opportunities for women.

East Sussex is 23rd and West Sussex 26th out of 150.

Each area was scored according to knowledge, economy, job opportunities for women and women's income levels.

LFG says unless the Government promotes a stronger knowledge economy in all the UK's regions, the divides in women's career opportunities are likely to become even more polarised.

Mark Hepworth, co-founder of Local Futures, said: "On earnings alone, women are worst off in rural areas and traditional manufacturing regions, where the old economy is dying out. The stronger the business base of the knowledge economy, the more powerful and inclusive is the career mobility and opportunity on offer to them.

"Brighton and Hove's creditable performance shows this part of Britain to be strong on women's opportunities.

"By 1996/7, more than half of new graduates were women but 80 per cent of women's employment does not require a degree.

"Only four of the top 20 female occupations require their employees to have degree-level qualifications.

"And women are better placed overall than men to take advantage of shifts in the economy towards services and growing demand for degree-level entry.

"As more women than men have qualified with degrees in recent years and women often do better educationally across the board. For all that, barriers still persist for women.

"The challenge to government is to promote a stronger knowledge economy, build up support services and remove barriers that prevent women from playing a full part in the knowledge economy."