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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

23 May 2019

Gender Balance in Business Survey 2019

Only one in nine CEOs of large enterprises in Ireland were women
  • Just 7% of Board Chairpersons were women
  • The gender composition of large companies’ boards was 20% women and 80% men
  • 28% of Senior Executives in large enterprises were women
  • Go to release: Gender Balance in Business Survey 2019

    The CSO has today (23 May 2019) released new statistics on Gender Balance in Business for 2019.

    This survey has been conducted for the first time and provides benchmark statistics on gender representation at the most senior levels in large enterprises (i.e. those with 250 or more employees). The results include a gender breakdown of Chairpersons, Boards of Directors, CEOs and Senior Executive teams.

    Commenting on the report, Gerard Doolan said: “Women occupied 12% of CEO positions, 7% of Board Chairpersons, 20% of board membership and 28% of Senior Executive positions.

    One-third (34%) of Senior Executive appointments within the last 12 months were women and two-thirds (66%) were men. For appointments to Boards of Directors within the last year, 30% were women.

    For appointments made five or more years ago, 25% of Senior Executive appointments and 17% of appointments to boards were women.

    The Construction sector had the lowest representation of women in Senior Executive jobs, at 9%. The Services sector had the highest female representation in senior posts, at 31%. In Industry, 26% of Senior Executives were women.

    Construction also had the lowest representation of women on Boards of Directors, at 9%. In Services, women accounted for 22% of board membership and in Industry 17%.

    There was higher representation of women in Foreign-owned than in Irish-owned enterprises. In Foreign-owned enterprises, the Senior Executive team was 31% female and the board 21% female. In Irish-owned enterprises, 26% of the Senior Executive team and 19% of the board were women.”

    For further information contact:

    Ger Doolan (+353) 21 453 5130 or Deirdre O'Connor (+353) 21 453 5206

    or email business_stats@cso.ie

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