Ireland's UN SDGs - Goal 5 Gender Equality 2024

SDG 5.4.1 Proportion of Time Spent on Unpaid Domestic and Care Work, by Sex, Age and Location

SDG 5.4.1 Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location - information on people who are unpaid carers is provided by the CSO, Census of Population 2022. No information is available on time spent on unpaid domestic work.

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.4.1 metadata document:

This indicator is defined as the proportion of time spent in a day on unpaid domestic and care work by men and women. Unpaid domestic and care work refers to activities related to the provision of services for own final use by household members, or by family members living in other households. These activities are listed in the International Classification of Activities for Time-Use Statistics 2016 (ICATUS 2016)2 under the major divisions “Unpaid domestic services for household and family members” and “Unpaid caregiving services for household and family members”.

CSO - Census of Population 2022

Ireland’s Census 2022 published reports include a dedicated publication on Census of Population 2022 Profile 4 - Disability, Health and Carers.

Unpaid Carers

The question on caring in Census 2022 sought to identify people who provided regular unpaid personal help or support to a family member, neighbour or friend with a long-term illness, health issue or an issue related to old age or disability.

• The percentage of the total population providing regular unpaid care increased to 6% in 2022.
• A greater proportion of unpaid care was provided by females compared with males. In 2022, 61% (181,592) of carers were female and 39% (117,536) were male.

See Table 5.1.

Carers by Age Group and Sex

In 2022, almost two-thirds (64%) of carers were aged between 40 and 64 years.

• The highest percentage of carers were aged 50 to 54 years (15%), followed by 14% in the 45 to 49 and 55 to 59 age groups.
• A further 15% of all unpaid carers were aged 65 years or over.
• Looking at five year age groups, there was a higher proportion of female carers between the ages 30 to 59 years (68%) than male carers (63%).

See Table 5.2 and Figure 5.1.

Carers and Hours of Care

The number of hours spent caring as reported by unpaid carers on their census form in 2022 is highlighted here:

• In 2022, almost half (46%) of carers provided up to 14 hours of unpaid help per week.
• The percentage of carers who provided between 15 and 28 hours of unpaid care was 14% in 2022.
• Carers providing 29 to 42 hours of unpaid help per week was 6% in 2022.
• Carers providing unpaid care for 43 hours or more was 29% in 2022.
• Greater proportions of males (49%) provided unpaid care for up to 14 hours per week compared with females (44%). 
• Unpaid help was provided for 43 hours or more per week by 31% of female carers compared with 26% of male carers. See Table 5.3 and Figure 5.2.

Further findings include:

• Looking at five year age groups, male unpaid carers at almost all ages were more likely to provide between 1 and 14 hours of care than their female equivalents.
• Among male carers aged 30 to 34 years, 46% provided unpaid help for up to 14 hours per week; the proportion for female carers in this age group was 38%.
• In some of the younger age groups, greater proportions of males than females tended to provide unpaid care for between 29 and 42 hours per week.
• However, among those who provided more than 43 hours of unpaid help per week, female carers had higher proportions in almost all age groups.
• This was particularly apparent in the 30 to 34 years age group where the proportion for females was 37% compared with only 23% for male carers.

Carers Across the Counties

The proportion of the population who provided regular unpaid care varied from county to county, ranging from 5% in Dublin City to 7% in Mayo.

• Other counties with relatively high proportions of unpaid regular carers included Leitrim, Sligo and Galway County, each recorded 7%.
• At just over 5%, Galway City, Fingal, Kildare and Meath were among other counties containing lower proportions of unpaid carers. See Table 5.4 and Map 5.1.

Further findings include:

• The counties with the highest proportions of carers aged under 15 years were Leitrim and Offaly.
• Among all persons aged 85 years and over, the percentage who were unpaid carers ranged from 2% in Roscommon and Limerick City to 4% in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Galway City.

SDG.5.5.1 Proportion of Seats Held by Women in (a) National Parliaments and (b) Local Governments

SDG 5.5.1 Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments - data for national elections were published by the Houses of the Oireachtas; and the data for local elections were published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.5.1 (a) metadata document:

The proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, currently as of 1 January of reporting year, is currently measured as the number of seats held by women members in single or lower chambers of national parliaments, expressed as a percentage of all occupied seats. National parliaments can be bicameral or unicameral. This indicator covers the single chamber in unicameral parliaments and the lower chamber in bicameral parliaments. It does not cover the upper chamber of bicameral parliaments. Seats are usually won by members in general parliamentary elections. Seats may also be filled by nomination, appointment, indirect election, rotation of members, and byelection. Seats refer to the number of parliamentary mandates or the number of members of parliament.

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.5.1 (b) metadata document:

Indicator 5.5.1 (b) measures the proportion of positions held by women in local government. It is expressed as a percentage of elected positions held by women in legislative/ deliberative bodies of local government.

General Elections - SDG 5.5.1 (a)

Women are significantly outnumbered by men in both local and national politics in Ireland. However, the introduction of gender quota legislation (i.e. quotas for women candidates) before the 2016 General Elections did produce an increase of 7 percentage points in female representation in those elections, from 15% to 22%. This further increased to 25% in the recent 2024 General Election.

The gender quota legislation does not apply to local elections, and the 2019 Local Elections saw a smaller increase of 4 percentage points in the number of seats taken by women, from 20% to 24%. This further increased to 26% in the 2024 Local Election.

According to the Houses of the Oireachtas 2024 there were 687 candidates in the 2024 General Election, of whom 246 were female.

The proportion of female candidates varied widely across the constituencies in 2024. Half or more of the candidates were female in the following constituencies: Cork South-West, Laois, Offaly, Dublin South Central, Dublin West, Wicklow-Wexford and Meath East. At the other end of the scale, less than 20% were female in Dublin Bay North, Dublin North-West, Wicklow, and Cork North-Central.

The highest percentage of women elected was 75% in Dublin South Central, while there were fourteen constituencies with no women elected. See Table 5.5 and Map 5.2.

The Government of Ireland data hub for Sustainable Development Goals hosts Story Maps which provide information on various themes for SDGs. Here the Female Representation in Politics in Ireland Story Map illustrates changes in female representation in recent Local Government and General Elections in Ireland between 2004 and 2019. This Story Map has been developed to showcase how the geospatial perspective can enrich the analysis of gender indicators. It is also part of the work involved in reporting Ireland’s status in relation to achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

There was only one woman (1%) elected to the first Dail in December 1918 compared to 104 men. There were 36 women (22.5%) elected to the 33rd Dail in 2020 compared to 124 men. In the 34th Dail in 2024 there were 44 women elected to 25% of the 174 seats. See Table 5.6 and Figure 5.3.

Local Elections - SDG 5.5.1 (b)

In total, women were elected to 26% of all local authority seats in 2024, up from 24% in the 2019 local elections.

Less than 20% of women were elected in thirteen local authorities. On the other end of the scale, the three local authorities which elected 40% or more women were: Dublin City, Louth and South Dublin County Councils. No local authorities elected a majority of women, with the highest proportion of women being elected in South Dublin County Council where almost 48% of seats were held by women. See Table 5.7 and Map 5.3.

SDG 5.5.2 Proportion of Women in Managerial Positions

SDG 5.5.2 Proportion of women in managerial positions is provided by two separate sources:

1. CSO - Labour Force Survey for managers, directors and senior officials
2. CSO - Census of Population 2022 provides data for corporate managers and directors and other managers and proprietors

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.5.2 metadata document:

This indicator refers to the proportion of females in the total number of persons employed in managerial positions. It is recommended to use two different measures jointly for this indicator: the share of females in (total) management and the share of females in senior and middle management (thus excluding junior management). The joint calculation of these two measures provides information on whether women are more represented in junior management than in senior and middle management, thus pointing to an eventual ceiling for women to access higher-level management positions. In these cases, calculating only the share of women in (total) management would be misleading, in that it would suggest that women hold positions with more decision-making power and responsibilities than they actually do.

1. CSO - Labour Force Survey

Quarterly data on the proportion of women in managers, directors and senior officials occupations is reported by the CSO, Labour Force Survey. 

According to Labour Force Survey Quarter 2 2024 between Q2 2018 and Q2 2024, the proportion of females in all occupations groups rose slightly from 46.0% to 47.4%. 

The proportion of females in managers, directors and senior officials occupations rose from 35.5% to 38.4%.

Over this same time period, the proportion of females in professional occupations fell from 56.5% to 54.1%. See Table 5.8.

2. CSO - Census of Population 2022

According to the Census of Population, in 2022 the proportion of the labour force who were female was 46.3%, while the proportion of corporate managers and directors who were female was 38.3%. The proportion of other managers and proprietors who were female was 43.3%.

The 25-34 years age group had the highest proportion of female in the total labour force at 48.6%.

The 20-24 years age group had the highest proportion of females working as corporate managers and directors at 47%. This age group, along with 25-34 years age group, also had the highest proportion of females who worked as other managers and proprietors at 47.9%. See Table 5.9.

Census 2022 data shows that Dublin City had the highest proportion of females in the corporate managers and directors occupation category at 42.1%, Longford had the lowest at rate at 33.3%. See Table 5.10 and Map 5.4.

SDG 5.6.1 Proportion of Women Aged 15-49 Years Who Make Their Own Informed Decisions Regarding Sexual Relations, Contraceptive Use and Reproductive Health Care

SDG 5.6.1 Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care - information relating to this indicator is provided by the Department of Health and the Department of Justice.

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.6.1 metadata document:

Proportion of women aged 15-49 years (married or in union) who make their own decision on all three selected areas i.e. decide on their own health care; decide on use of contraception; and can say no to sexual intercourse with their husband or partner if they do not want. Only women who provide a “yes” answer to all three components are considered as women who make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health. A union involves a man and a woman regularly cohabiting in a marriagelike relationship.

National Strategy for Women and Girls

Introduction

The National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020: creating a better society for all was published by the Department of Justice and Equality in April 2017 in line with a commitment in the 2016 Programme for a Partnership Government. 

The Strategy has as its vision to work towards: 
“an Ireland where all women enjoy equality with men and can achieve their full potential, while enjoying a safe and fulfilling life”.

The Strategy states: “The overall goal of the Strategy for the 2017-2020 period is to change attitudes and practices preventing women’s and girls’ full participation in education, employment and public life, at all levels, and to improve services for women and girls, with priority given to the needs of those experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, the poorest outcomes”. 

This goal is advanced through action contributing to six high-level objectives, as follows:

• Advance socio-economic equality for women and girls
• Advance the physical and mental health and wellbeing of women and girls
• Ensure the visibility in society of women and girls, and their equal and active citizenship
• Advance women in leadership at all levels
• Combat violence against women
• Embed gender equality in decision-making

Work has begun on the development of the successor to the National Strategy for Women and Girls, with the consultation phase completed in 2024 including a National Youth Assembly on Gender Equality, an online public survey and dedicated workshops with stakeholders. The Programme for Government 2025 – Securing Ireland’s Future (PDF 734KB) includes a commitment to develop and implement a new National Strategy for Women and Girls.

Women's Health Action Plan

On 18 April 2024 the Department of Health launched the Women’s Health Action Plan 2024-2025 Phase 2: An Evolution in Women’s Health.

There are three pillars to the Action Plan:

Pillar 1 – Building on Progress: Focusing on the safeguarding and expansion of services developed during the first Action Plan. It includes the expansion of the Free Contraception Scheme to women aged 17-35 years, increasing capacity of Specialist Menopause Clinics, and the roll-out of additional “See-and-Treat” Gynaecology Clinics.

Pillar 2 – New spotlights for 2024-2025: This includes the development of the first public Assisted Human Reproduction Treatment Centre, initiatives targeted at women at midlife or older, to improve bone health and cardiovascular health, funding to expand the National Venous Thromboembolism Programme and supports for marginalised women.

Pillar 3 – Listening and Learning: Through the Women’s Health Taskforce, the Department of Health will continue to put women’s voices at the centre of policy creation. Initiatives include a new Radical Listening exercise planned for 2025, a new Patient Voice Forum to hear directly from women accessing existing services, as well as new research and outcomes analysis.

A Women's Health Taskforce was established by the Department of Health to improve women’s health outcomes and experiences of healthcare in September 2019. For further details see the Women's Health Action Plan 2022-2023.

Draft Programme for Government 

The Draft Programme for Government 2025 states this government is committed to further developing the transformation in women’s healthcare. This government will:

• Provide a comprehensive women’s health programme in general practice including advice on contraception, sexually transmitted infections, screening, fertility and pre-conception and support for women experiencing menopause.
• Build the new National Maternity Hospital.
• Ensure that all maternity hospitals provide equitable access to termination of pregnancy services.
• Complete the national network of twenty-one same day, see and treat gynaecology clinics.
• Continue to expand specialist services in endometriosis.
• Increase our network of menopause clinics and develop a model of care for menopause.
• Develop a plan to make free period products accessible in more locations.
• Expand eligibility to state-funded In vitro fertilisation (IVF).
• Establish the new Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Regulatory Authority to support AHR and establish our first public AHR treatment centre.
• Develop a successor to the National Maternity Strategy.
• Invest in additional supports for breastfeeding.
• Examine the introduction of free pelvic floor physical therapy sessions for women after childbirth.
• Require hospitals to improve their environments, spaces and supports within maternity services to better assist and support individuals dealing with pregnancy loss or critical neonatal illness.
• Deliver the first inpatient mother and baby mental health unit.

The Draft Programme for Government 2025 section on 'Equality and Inclusion' states:

Advancing equality and inclusion is a whole of government issue. Progress has been made on several fronts, but challenges persist. The government will continue to drive progress and reform, ensuring Ireland is an inclusive and accepting country. 

Further information is available in the Draft Programme for Government 2025.

National Sexual Health Strategy

In October 2015, Ireland’s National Sexual Health Strategy 2015-2020 (NSHS) was launched as a strategic framework for the sexual health and wellbeing of the population. This is the first time Ireland has developed a coordinated approach at a national level to address sexual health and wellbeing and to reduce negative sexual health outcomes. The underpinning ambition of the strategy is that everyone in Ireland experiences positive sexual health and wellbeing, and has access to high quality sexual health information, education, and services. The strategy is characterised by a life course approach to sexual health which recognises and accepts the importance of developing healthy sexuality throughout childhood and adolescence, and builds on this principle for positive sexual health and wellbeing into adulthood and older age. The NSHS was extended to 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted on every aspect of life in Ireland and as such created challenges for programmes, initiatives, and innovations that seek to improve access, engagement, and interventions associated with sexual health.

The Review of the National Sexual Health Strategy 2023 is an independent review of the NSHS. The progress of the current strategy is considerable, with significant legislative, policy, epidemiological, and environmental changes being realised during its lifecycle. The actions and priorities set out in the NSHS, and the subsequent implementation plans, are assessed thematically – an assessment of Progress Made or No Progress Made is assigned to each area. Of the 56 Priority Actions, 49 are assessed as having been successfully progressed.

The NSHS is currently being refreshed and will be launched in 2025. This process is almost complete and there is a commitment to this effect in the new Programme for Government 2025.

The Draft Programme for Government 2025 states this Government is committed to enhancing sexual health services in Ireland.

This Government will:

• Publish a new National Sexual Health Strategy.
• Intensify our efforts by developing an action plan to eliminate new HIV transmissions by 2030 and provide support for people living with HIV.
• Increase the availability of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and reduce waiting times for access to it.

Healthy Ireland Framework

This Strategy is being published in the context of major reforms of the health service in our approach to the health and wellbeing of the population. Healthy Ireland - A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013–2025 recognises that many factors outside the healthcare sector influence health. The ability to reach and maintain good health is shaped not only by individual lifestyle factors and genetics, but also by the environment in which we live. The Healthy Ireland Framework aims to address these factors and to support the aims of the National Sexual Health Strategy in a wider context.

Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan

The Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan 2021-2025 (PDF 2.3MB) provides a clear roadmap of how we can continue to work together to bring about good health, access to services, healthy environments, and the promotion of resilience and to ensure that everyone can enjoy physical and mental, health and wellbeing, to their full potential.

This action plan will build on the work and progress made to date and focus on the remaining years of the Healthy Ireland Framework from 2021-2025.

What is Sexual Health?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined sexual health as:
‘a state of physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence'.

Vision

The strategic vision of this strategy is that everyone in Ireland experiences positive sexual health and wellbeing. To achieve this vision, this strategy aims to improve sexual health and wellbeing and reduce negative sexual health outcomes by ensuring that everyone living in Ireland has access to high quality sexual health information, education and services throughout their lives. This vision will be addressed through three goals.

Goals

Goal 1 – Sexual health promotion, education and prevention: Everyone living in Ireland will receive comprehensive and age-appropriate sexual health education and/or information and will have access to appropriate prevention and promotion services.

Goal 2 – Sexual health services: Equitable, accessible and high quality sexual health services that are targeted and tailored to need will be available to everyone.

Goal 3 – Sexual health intelligence: Robust and high quality sexual health information will be generated to underpin policy, practice, service planning and strategic monitoring.

The Strategy recognises the diversity of sexual identities in Ireland and supports all expressions of sexual identity through positive sexual health and wellbeing outcomes.

Significant Investments

The Free Contraception Scheme (FCS) was introduced in September 2022, initially for those aged 17 to 25 years, and has been gradually expanded subsequently. It is currently open to women aged 17-35 years inclusive; i.e. from the 17th birthday until the day before the 36th birthday. The FCS is supported by approximately 2,050 pharmacies and 2,400 GPs, family planning, student health and primary care centres, nationwide. The scheme covers the cost of consultations with GPs, family planning, student health and primary care centres, and prescriptions for the wide range of contraceptive options available on the Health Service Executive (HSE) Re-Imbursement List. Where needed, fittings, removals, injections and checks for long-acting reversible contraception, such as coils, implants and injections are also free of charge under the scheme. The FCS was accessed by just under 88,000 people from launch in September 2022 to the end of 2022, by just under 190,000 people in 2023, and by just over 275,000 women by end November 2024. The Programme for Government 2025 commits to continued extension of the FCS.

The National Condom Distribution Service (NCDS) was launched in 2015 and distributes free condoms though the public STI clinic network, through NGOs working with high risk groups, on third level campuses and with orders from the free home STI testing scheme. In 2024, the NCDS distributed just over 1.2 million free condoms and just under 800,000 sachets of lubricant. To note, as a result of competition law concerns, it is not possible to provide free condoms through the FCS as they are not prescription only items that are restricted for sale to pharmacies only.

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act, 2018

Following a referendum held on 25 May 2018, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was passed by the Oireachtas, signed into law in late 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019.  Expanded services for termination of pregnancy in Ireland were initiated on 1 January 2019 and are provided through participating doctors and hospitals throughout the country.

The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 permits termination to be carried out in cases where there is a risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health, of the pregnant woman; where there is a condition present which is likely to lead to the death of the foetus either before or within 28 days of birth; and without restriction up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The Act provides universal access to termination of pregnancy services for people who are ordinarily resident in the State (i.e. services are provided free of charge).

A freephone telephone helpline and webchat service ‘My Options’, also became operational on 1 January 2019. It includes an Information and Counselling Service staffed by counsellors (available from 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 2pm on Saturday), and a telephone nursing service staffed by nurses and midwives (available 24 hours per day, seven days per week). ‘My Options’ can provide an interpreter for 240 different languages, including Irish Sign Language.”

Further information is available through the HSE's Sexual Wellbeing website. This information is regularly updated and provides full details of how to access these schemes.

SDG 5.6.2 Number of Countries with Laws and Regulations that Guarantee Full and Equal Access to Women and Men Aged 15 Years and Older to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care, Information and Education

SDG 5.6.2 Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education - information relating to this indicator is provided by the Department of Health.

The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.6.2 metadata document:

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.6.2 seeks to measure the extent to which countries have national laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education.

The indicator is a percentage (%) scale of 0 to 100 (national laws and regulations exist to guarantee full and equal access), indicating a country’s status and progress in the existence of such National laws and regulations. Indicator 5.6.2 measures only the existence of laws and regulations; it does not measure their implementation.

See SDG 5.6.1 above for information relating to this indicator.