Fewer than one in four councillors elected on Thursday was a woman, with even the top Scottish local authority for female representation lagging way behind the average figure south of the Border.

Although the number of successful female candidates has increased from 263 in 2007 to 301 – 24.3% of the total number of councillors – academics analysing gender imbalance in Scottish politics over the past two decades said "the general trend remains one of stalled progress".

South Lanarkshire tops the league table, with 25 female councillors from a total of 67, or 37.2%, while Inverclyde takes last place with just one female councillor from 20. But even that is an improvement on 2007.

In England, 40% of councillors elected in the 36 metropolitan councils are women, and several achieved gender parity, including Bury (64%), South Tyneside (57%) and Gateshead (55%).

Last month, academics at Edinburgh University warned the lack of female candidates would stifle efforts to force issues such as domestic violence and childcare up the political agenda within local government. And last night they warned: "We're a long way from saying goodbye to the male, pale and stale face of Scottish local politics."

Dr Fiona Mackay, senior lecturer in politics at Edinburgh University, said: "Pundits are claiming the results of the election are good news for the SNP, as the largest party in local politics, and good news for resurgent Scottish Labour, which held on to Glasgow.

"But we ask – is there good news for women's representation? Unlike their counterparts south of the Border, no Scottish council has achieved gender balance. And more than one-third of all councils in Scotland have not broken through the 20% barrier.

"These figures should serve as a wake-up call to parties and councils that something has to change in order to make local politics more inclusive, and ensure local councils look like the communities they represent. As we have noted elsewhere, the time has come for tough action on women's representation in Scotland."

Dr Mackay also said that, while there were breakdowns of political parties after elections, only department that monitored women's representation.

According to the latest report from Dr Mackay and Dr Meryl Kenny, from the University of New South Wales, only five of the 32 councils achieved levels of women's representation of 30% or more – Aberdeenshire, Glasgow, Moray, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire.

East Lothian elected just two women councillors, as did Orkney, while the Western Isles has three. Labour's Vaughan Jones became Inverclyde's only female.

Other "laggards" include Dumfries and Galloway with 17% female representation, East Renfrewshire with 20%, Falkirk with 18.8%, Midlothian 16.7%, North Lanarkshire 20%, Scottish Borders 17.6% and Shetland 13.6%.

In Glasgow, 14 of the 44 Labour councillors were women, while the SNP had seven out of its 27.