By Mark Davies BBC News Online political reporter in Blackpool

According to research conducted by pollsters Mori for the Fawcett Society, levels of support for the Tories have dropped by 16 points among women since the 1992 election which saw John Major triumph.

Dr Katherine Rake, director of the society, which campaigns for equality between men and women, says the fall in support is "one of the biggest threats to the Conservatives' electoral recovery".

Mr Duncan Smith's party needs to win back support from women, the research suggests

But Caroline Spelman, the shadow minister for women, insisted at a conference fringe meeting on Monday that the party was taking steps to address the decline.

The Fawcett Society report says female voters are the most likely historically to vote Tory - and that the votes of women can be the difference between success and failure.

The Mori research suggests a recent fall in support from older women, while there has been a six point drop in backing among the 35-54 age group since 1997.

Younger women are also less likely to vote Tory according to the figures, with fewer than one in five women under 24 saying they will back the Conservatives.

And the research also suggests that support among middle class women is also falling, from 43% in 1997 to 34% in 2003.

Not that this is all good news for Labour - Mori suggests Tony Blair's party is also losing support among women.

And there is cheer for Iain Duncan Smith, with female Conservative supporters more likely to back his leadership than male Tories.

Exposed

Shadow minister for women Caroline Spelman told the meeting that the Tories were addressing the loss of support - though she sounded a health warning over opinion poll data.

Women have a general feeling that politicians don't actually understand what it is like at the sharp end of these public service Caroline Spelman

But she acknowledged that the party could not afford to be complacent about a loss of support among women.

She said the key in terms of attracting women was to show how policies were relevant to their lives, particularly in terms of public services.

Policies should be tailored to specific groups, with assessments of how each new proposals will affect specific groups in society.

"Women are more exposed to public services," she said. "It is nearly always the mum who sits in the health centre with a child with earache.

"Who is it picking the kids up from school?

"More often than not it is the woman who is at the front end of how these services work."

Sharp end

She said older female voters would be attracted by the Tory pledge to reinstate the link between pensions and earnings.

But she said there was also a problem with the way politics is conducted: "Women also have a general feeling that politicians don't actually understand what it is like at the sharp end of these public services."

She said trust was also more of an issue for women than men, while "yah boo" politics was also a turn off.

"Woman want to see some people (in parliament) who are like them or they feel they could relate to. As a party we are trying hard to tackle this, but we have got a long way to go."