Gender Equality Women and Men in Ireland 2019

EU: Gender equality index

Table 4.1 EU: Gender Equality Index, 2017

Country	Overall index	Work	Money	Knowledge	Time	Power	Health
Sweden	83.6	83.0	86.8	73.8	90.1	83.4	94.7
Denmark	77.5	79.6	87.1	72.3	83.1	64.9	89.9
France	74.6	72.4	86.4	66.0	67.3	78.3	87.4
Finland	73.4	74.9	87.6	61.1	77.4	66.7	89.7
United Kingdom	72.2	76.9	81.6	70.4	69.9	56.5	93.3
Netherlands	72.1	77.4	86.7	67.1	83.9	50.0	90.0
Ireland	71.3	75.5	85.5	66.9	74.2	53.4	90.9
Belgium	71.1	74.1	88.3	71.3	65.3	55.2	86.3
Spain	70.1	72.9	76.7	67.4	64.0	62.0	90.1
Luxembourg	69.2	74.1	91.8	69.5	69.1	44.8	89.6
Slovenia	68.3	73.3	82.4	56.0	72.9	57.6	87.1
EU28	67.4	72.0	80.4	63.5	65.7	51.9	88.1
Germany	66.9	72.1	86.0	53.7	65.0	56.6	90.5
Austria	65.3	76.6	86.4	64.1	61.2	39.9	91.7
Italy	63.0	63.1	78.8	61.2	59.3	47.6	88.7
Malta	62.5	73.3	82.5	65.8	64.2	32.2	92.1
Portugal	59.9	72.5	72.1	55.1	47.5	46.7	84.5
Estonia	59.8	71.5	69.4	55.5	74.7	34.6	81.9
Latvia	59.7	74.2	65.5	49.7	65.8	44.1	78.3
Bulgaria	58.8	69.0	61.8	53.2	42.7	59.9	77.1
Cyprus	56.3	70.7	80.8	56.5	51.3	28.2	88.4
Czech Republic	55.7	67.0	76.7	59.0	57.3	26.1	86.3
Croatia	55.6	69.2	72.2	50.4	51.0	34.8	83.7
Lithuania	55.5	73.6	64.7	55.9	50.6	32.5	79.8
Poland	55.2	67.0	75.1	56.5	52.5	29.1	83.2
Romania	54.5	67.7	62.0	51.5	50.3	38.8	71.1
Slovakia	54.1	66.5	74.2	60.4	46.3	26.8	85.8
Hungary	51.9	67.4	71.6	56.9	54.3	20.6	86.6
Greece	51.2	64.2	71.4	55.7	44.7	24.3	83.5
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality

Open in Excel: Women and Men In Ireland 2019 Table 4.1 (XLS 12KB)

The Gender Equality Index is a composite index spanning data across the themes of work, money, knowledge, time, power and health. It is compiled by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).
On the overall Gender Equality Index, Ireland was the eighth highest of the EU member states with a score of 69.5 in 2015, (where 1 indicates total inequality and 100 indicates gender equality). The EU average score was 66.2.

The highest scores on the overall index were in Sweden and Denmark with scores above 75. The lowest scores were Greece and Hungary.

Ireland scored above the EU average on all of the domains, i.e., in work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.

Ireland: Gender balance of senior roles in business

Table 4.2 Ireland: Gender balance of senior roles in business, 2019¹
		%
Age	Male	Female
Chairpersons	92.6	7.4
Boards of Directors	80.4	19.6
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)	88.5	11.5
Senior Executives	71.7	28.3
Chief Fiancial Officers (CFOs)	70.3	29.7
Total senior roles	74.0	26.0
Source: Gender Balance in Business, CSO
¹ The total senior roles percentages are calculated by combining all Senior Executives and Boards of Directors.

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.2 (XLS 10KB)

Just over one in four (26%) of all senior roles in large enterprises was held by a women in 2019.

Women occupied only 11.5% of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) positions and 28.3% of Senior Executive roles.

Women held just one in five positions on Boards of Directors (19.6%) and only 7.4% of Chairperson roles

Ireland: Lone parents by age of youngest child

Table 4.3 Ireland: Lone parents¹ by age of youngest child, 2018 ²
		'000s
Age of youngest child	Men	Women	Total	% women
0-9	12.8	82.1	94.9	86.5
10-14	[5.6]	33.4	39.0	85.6
15 -19	[5.3]	27.6	32.9	83.9
Total	23.8	143.1	166.9	85.7
Source: CSO LFS
¹Refers to persons living as lone parents with at least one child less than 20 years of age.
²Data in parentheses [ ] indicate where there are 30-49 persons in a cell - these estimates are considered to have a wider margin of error and should be treated with caution.

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.3 (XLS 9KB)

More than five out of six of the 166,900 lone parents (85.7%) were women in 2018.

The youngest child was less than 10 years old for more than half of women (57.4%) living as lone parents and also for more than half of men (53.8%).

Ireland: Recipients of one-parent family payment by age

Table 4.4 Ireland: Recipients of one-parent family payment by age, 2018
number				%
Age group	Men	Women	Total	% Women
Under 25	22	6,410	6,432	99.7
25-34	130	19,124	19,254	99.3
35-49	237	12,769	13,006	98.2
50 & over	56	517	573	90.2
Total	445	38,820	39,265	98.9
Source: Department of Social Protection

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.4 (XLS 10KB)

Nearly all (98.9%) of the 39,265 persons who received the one-parent family payment in 2018 were women.

One in six (16.5%) of the women receiving the one-parent family payment was aged under 25 years while about half (49.3%) were aged 25 to 34.

EU: Representation in national parliaments

Table 4.5 EU: Representation in national parliaments, 2014-2018¹
% female representatives
Country	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Sweden	43.6	43.6	45.8	46.1	46.7
Finland	42.0	41.5	42.0	42.0	41.5
Spain	40.9	43.0	38.9	40.6	41.4
France	26.5	26.2	26.2	39.1	39.7
Belgium	38.0	38.0	38.7	38.7	37.3
Austria	30.6	30.8	30.6	31.1	36.6
Portugal	31.3	34.3	34.3	35.2	36.4
Denmark	38.5	37.4	37.4	37.4	36.3
Italy	31.3	31.1	31.0	31.0	35.8
Netherlands	37.3	38.7	38.0	35.3	32.7
United Kingdom	22.8	29.4	29.7	32.0	32.2
EU 28	27.7	28.6	28.7	30.3	31.2
Latvia	18.0	17.0	16.0	17.0	31.0
Germany	36.5	36.0	37.0	30.9	30.9
Estonia	19.8	25.7	25.7	27.7	29.7
Poland	23.6	27.2	28.0	28.5	28.8
Slovenia	38.2	34.4	35.6	35.6	27.8
Bulgaria	20.4	19.6	19.2	25.9	25.4
Czech Republic	19.5	20.0	20.5	22.0	23.0
Ireland	16.3	16.3	22.2	22.2	22.2
Lithuania	23.6	24.1	21.3	20.6	22.0
Romania	13.7	13.9	14.2	21.3	21.9
Luxembourg	28.3	28.3	28.3	28.3	21.7
Slovakia	20.0	20.0	20.5	21.3	20.7
Croatia	25.8	25.2	18.5	18.0	20.5
Greece	21.0	19.7	18.3	18.3	18.3
Cyprus	14.3	12.5	17.9	17.9	18.2
Malta	12.9	13.0	13.0	14.5	14.5
Hungary	10.1	9.6	9.5	10.1	12.6

Norway	38.7	39.6	39.6	40.8	40.8
Macedonia	35.9	34.1	35.0	36.3	38.3
Iceland	41.3	46.0	47.6	38.1	38.1
Serbia	33.6	33.6	34.0	36.4	37.6
Turkey	14.4	14.9	14.7	14.0	17.4
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality
¹ Lower house or single chamber female representation in quarter 4

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.5 (XLS 12KB)

More than a fifth (22.2%) of the TD's in the Dail were women in 2018, the tenth lowest representation in the EU and below the EU average of 31.2%.

Female representation in the Dail increased in Ireland from 16.3% to 22.2% after the 2016 general election as a result of new legislation on female quotas for political parties, see Appendix 1.

Three EU countries had female participation of over 40% in Parliament - Sweden, Finland and Spain. The lowest representation was in Hungary at 12.6%.

Ireland: Women and men in decision making

Open in Excel:

	Men	Women
Ministers of State	84.2105263157895	15.7894736842105
Dail Eireann	77.8481012658228	22.1518987341772
Government Minsiters	73.3333333333333	26.6666666666667
Seanad Eireann	70	30
State Boards	59.3	40.7

Men significantly outnumbered women in all national decision-making structures in Ireland in 2018.

About a quarter (26.7%) of Government Ministers and 15.8% of Ministers of State were female.

Just over one in five (22.2%) of TDs were female while 30% of the membership of the Seanad were female.

In the 2020 general election, the proportion of female TDs did not change significantly, with 22.7% of elected TDs being female.

	Men	Women
Regional Assemblies	82.4742268041237	17.5257731958763
Local Authorities	76.0800842992624	23.9199157007376
Education Training Boards	58.3333333333333	41.6666666666667

Men also out-numbered women in all regional decision-making structures in Ireland in 2019.

Regional Assembly members had a female membership of just 17.5% compared to 23.9% of Local Authority members and 41.7% of Education Training Boards.

Ireland: Civil service general service grades

Table 4.6 Ireland: Civil Service general service grades, 2018
number				% of grade
Grade	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
Secretary General	15	2	17	88.2	11.8
Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary	107	55	162	66.0	34.0
Principal Officer	515	375	890	57.9	42.1
Assistant Principal	1,309	1,303	2,612	50.1	49.9
Higher Executive Officer	1,952	2,626	4,578	42.6	57.4
Administrative Officer	334	323	657	50.8	49.2
Executive Officer (incl. former Staff Officer)	2,534	4,979	7,513	33.7	66.3
Clerical Officer	3,242	8,809	12,051	26.9	73.1
Services Officer	453	63	516	87.8	12.2
Services Attendant	83	9	92	90.2	9.8
Total	10,544	18,544	29,088	36.2	63.8
Source: Department of Finance

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.6 (XLS 11KB)

Just under two out of three (63.8%) civil servants were women in 2018.

However the proportions of women at senior levels are much lower. Only 11.8% of Secretary Generals and 34% of Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary were female in 2018.

In contrast, 73.1% of Clerical Officers and 66.3% of Executive Officers were female.

The middle management grade of Administrative Officer was the most gender balanced of all grades.

Grade	Men	Women
Total	36.2486248624862	63.7513751375138
Secretary General	88.2352941176471	11.7647058823529
Deputy Secretary and Asst Secretary	66.0493827160494	33.9506172839506
Principal Officer	57.8651685393258	42.1348314606742
Assistant Principal	50.114854517611	49.885145482389
Higher Executive Officer	42.6387068588903	57.3612931411097
Administrative Officer	50.8371385083714	49.1628614916286
Executive Officer (incl. former Staff Officer)	33.7282044456276	66.2717955543724
Clerical Officer	26.9023317567007	73.0976682432993
Services Officer	87.7906976744186	12.2093023255814
Services Attendant	90.2173913043478	9.78260869565217

Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by size of grant

Table 4.7 Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by size of grant, 2019
	recipients		average allocation(€)
Size of grant	Men	Women	Men	Women
Less than €5,000	2	9	1,500	1,833
€5,000 - €9,999	4	0	7,500	0
€10,000 - €14,999	33	13	12,000	12,115
€15,000 - €19,999	4	0	15,500	0
€20,000 & over	21	24	26,667	26,667
Total¹	64	46	16,422	17,696
Source: Sport Ireland
¹ Grants to junior athletes are not included. See Appendix 1

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.7 (XLS 11KB)

In 2019 the Irish Sports Council awarded grants under the International Carding Scheme to 64 male and 46 female athletes.

The average grant allocated was €16,421 to women and €17,695 to men.

More than half (57.8%) of male athletes received a grant between €10,000 and €19,999, however over half of female athletes (52.2%) received a grant over €20,000.

Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by age of athlete

Table 4.8 Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by age, 2019
			number	%
Age group	Men	Women	Total	% Women
19 and under	3	6	9	66.7
20-24	24	12	36	33.3
25-29	24	15	39	38.5
30-34	10	9	19	47.4
35-44	2	4	6	66.7
45-64	1	0	1	0.0
Total¹	64	46	110	41.8
Source: Sport Ireland
¹ Grants to junior athletes are not included. See Appendix 1

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.8 (XLS 11KB)

In 2016 Sport Ireland awarded grants under the International Carding Scheme to 64 male and 46 female athletes.

Athletes aged between 25 and 29 years of age received the largest number of grants. For male athletes, just under four out of ten (37.5%) grants went to those aged 25-29 while 32.6% of grants went to female athletes in this age group.

Ireland: Arts council grants by artform

Table 4.9 Ireland: Arts council grants to artists by artform, 2017
		recipients		average allocation(€)
Artform	Men	Women	Men	Women
Architecture	2	4	11,255	7,971
Arts Participation	3	12	7,019	11,524
Choreography	0	1	0	4,295
Summary	11	9	6,704	10,170
Dance	6	30	11,828	13,997
Film	4	8	48,205	29,787
Literature	69	63	12,954	8,475
Music	57	46	10,432	5,653
Opera	9	6	13,476	2,467
Street Arts	4	3	10,098	10,505
Theatre	32	47	17,624	16,778
Traditional Arts	20	10	9,258	9,612
Visual Arts	85	124	14,486	11,899
Young people, children and educaton	7	26	4,570	3,562
Total	309	389	13,155	10,800
Source: Arts Council

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.9 (XLS 11KB)

The Arts Council awarded 698 grants to artists in 2017. Women represented more than half (56%) of recipients.

The average grant awarded to men by the Arts Council was €13,155 while the average awarded to women was €10,800.

More than a third (31.9%) of grants awarded to women and 27.5% of the grants awarded to men were in the field of visual arts.

Just under a quarter (22.3%) of grants to men were for Literature and 18.4% were for music. Around 16% of grants to women were for literature while about 10% were for music.

About 67% of the recipients of grants in the field of traditional arts were men while women received 83% of the grants relating to dance and 56% of the theatre grants.

Ireland: Arts council grants to artists by size of grant

Table 4.10 Ireland: Arts council grants to artists by size of grant, 2017
		recipients		average allocation(€)
Size of Grant	Men	Women	Men	Women
Less than €5,000	95	171	1,869	1,535
€5,000 - €9,999	38	50	8,078	7,635
€10,000 - €14,999	34	45	13,069	12,086
€15,000 and over	142	123	22,085	24,198
Total	309	389	13,155	10,800
Source: Arts Council

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.10 (XLS 9KB)

The Arts Council awarded 698 grants to artists in 2017. Women represented more than half (56%) of recipients.

The average grant awarded by the Arts Council to men was €13,155 compared with €10,800 for women.

Grants of €15,000 or over were awarded to 46% of men and 32% of women.

Ireland: Income liable for social insurance

Table 4.11 Ireland: Income¹ liable for social insurance, 2018
		persons aged 15-84	%
Income Band	Men	Women	Men	Women
Under €5,000	182,897	193,993	12.4	14.6
€5,000 - €9,999	128,772	149,405	8.8	11.2
€10,000 - €19,999	226,048	270,606	15.4	20.4
€20,000 - €29,999	244,257	231,492	16.6	17.4
€30,000 - €39,999	219,762	178,614	14.9	13.4
€40,000 - €49,999	134,817	107,327	9.2	8.1
€50,000 & over	334,752	196,843	22.8	14.8
Total	1,471,305	1,328,280	100.0	100.0
Average income €	38,538	28,294
Source: Department of Social Protection, Revenue Commissioners
¹These tables are based on income data which covers 75.6% of men and 66.7% of women aged 15-84. See Appendix 1 for further information.

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.11 (XLS 11KB)

The average income liable for social insurance for women in 2018 was €28,294, three-quarters of the male average of €38,583.

Men were more likely to have income of €50,000 or over with 22.8% of men and 14.8% of women in this income band. More than four in ten (46.2%) of women had income under €20,000 compared to 36.5% of men.

When interpreting this table note that no account has been taken of the number of hours being worked or of the occupations being performed by men and women, (see tables 5.6 and 5.8). See Appendix 1 for further information on income liable for social insurance.

Ireland: Average income liable for social insurance by age

Table 4.12 Ireland: Average income¹liable for social insurance by age, 2018
		Average Income (€)	%
Age	Men	Women	Women
15-24	12,076	10,655	88.2
25-34	32,283	27,530	85.3
35-44	47,560	35,946	75.6
45-54	55,696	36,817	66.1
55-64	47,460	30,990	65.3
65-84	23,982	16,735	69.8
Total	38,009	28,243	74.3
Source: Department of Social Protection, Revenue Commissioners
¹ These tables are based on income data which covers 75.6% of men and 66.7% of women aged 15-84. See Appendix 1 for further information.

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.12 (XLS 11KB)

The difference between men and women for average income liable for social insurance increased with age in 2018. The average income of women aged 15-24 was 88.2% of men's in the same age group while for the 55-64 age group women's average income was 65.3% of men's.

When interpreting this table note that no account has been taken of the number of hours being worked or of the occupations being performed by men and women, (see tables 5.6 and 5.8). See Appendix 1 for further information on income liable for social insurance.

Ireland: Median earned income by highest level of education

Table 4.13 Ireland: Median earned income per person working and aged 18 and over by level of education, 2016
			€	%
Education Level	Total	Male	Female	Female as a % of male
Ph.D	60,912	68,773	53,091	77.2
Postgraduate	46,916	55,815	42,418	76.0
Honours degree	37,830	44,482	34,258	77.0
Ordinary bachelor	32,193	38,173	28,148	73.7
Higher certificate	26,506	32,444	22,693	69.9
Advanced certficate	26,940	31,560	18,827	59.7
Technical	20,717	24,461	17,892	73.1
Upper secondary	19,978	23,298	17,010	73.0
Lower secondary	19,809	24,077	13,834	57.5
Primary	15,165	17,412	11,847	68.0
No education	14,684	17,169	11,147	64.9
Total	26,000	29,127	22,799	78.3
Source: Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland, CSO

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.13 (XLS 11KB)

The median earned income for all females working and aged 18 and over was €22,799 in 2016, which was 78.3% of the value for males of €29,127.

Earned incomes were higher in 2016 as the level of education increased for persons who were working for payment or profit and aged 18 and over. The median earned income for those with a Ph. D was €60,912, nearly five times higher than the median of €14,684 for a person with no education.

Males had higher earned incomes than females across all levels of education. Note that this comparison is not adjusted for hours worked which accounts for some of the difference in incomes.

The highest gender difference was for persons with lower secondary education, where females had an earned income of €13,834, 57.5% of that for males at €24,077.

The lowest gender difference was for those who had a Ph.D. The median earned income for females with an Ph.D was €53,091, 77.2% of the male income of €68,773.

Highest level of Education	Men	Women
Ph.D	68773	53091
Postgraduate	55815	42418
Honours degree	44482	34258
Ordinary bachelor	38173	28148
Higher certificate	32444	22693
Advanced certficate	31560	18827
Technical	24461	17892
Upper secondary	23298	17010
Lower secondary	24077	13834
Primary	17412	11847
No education	17169	11147
Total	29127	22799

Ireland: Median earned income by occupation

Table 4.14 Ireland: Median earned income per person working and aged 18 and over by occupation, 2016
			€	%
Occupation	Total	Male	Female	Female as a % of male
Medical practitioners	90,018	109,785	75,212	68.5
Financial managers and directors	76,854	94,500	60,126	63.6
Barristers and judges (incl. Solicitors)	64,002	78,010	55,702	71.4
Programmers and software development professionals	55,481	58,000	44,654	77.0
Civil engineers	49,844	50,000	46,055	92.1
Secondary education teaching professionals	49,473	51,407	48,806	94.9
Chartered and certified accountants and taxation experts	46,492	51,504	42,416	82.4
Primary and nursery education teaching professionals	43,803	44,976	43,654	97.1
Nursing and midwifery professionals	43,685	53,563	42,877	80.0
Business sales executives	34,855	36,475	29,870	81.9
Care workers and home carers	22,840	28,986	21,842	75.4
Farmers	19,536	20,016	13,858	69.2
Total	26,000	29,127	22,799	78.3
Source: Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland, CSO

Open in Excel: Women and Men in Ireland 2019 Table 4.14 (XLS 11KB)

The median earned income for all females working and aged 18 and over was €22,799 in 2016, which was 78.3% of the value for males of €29,127.

Males had higher earned incomes than females across all occupations in 2016. Note that this comparison is not adjusted for hours worked which accounts for some of the difference in incomes.

The highest gender difference was for Financial managers and directors, where females had a median earned income of €60,126, which was 63.6% of that for males at €94,500.

The lowest gender difference was for Primary and nursery education, where the median earned income for females was 97.1% of the male median.

Occupation	Men	Women
Medical practitioners	109785	75212
Financial managers and directors	94500	60125.5
Barristers and judges (incl. Solicitors)	78010	55702
Programmers and software development professionals	58000	44653.5
Civil engineers	50000	46054.5
Secondary education teaching professionals	51407	48805.5
Chartered and certified accountants and taxation experts	51504	42416
Primary and nursery education teaching professionals	44976	43654
Nursing and midwifery professionals	53563	42877
Business sales executives	36475	29870
Care workers and home carers	28986	21842
Farmers	20016	13858
Total	29127	22799

Women and Men in Ireland 2019

Gender Equality

EU: Gender equality index

Ireland: Gender balance of senior roles in business

Ireland: Lone parents by age of youngest child

Ireland: Recipients of one-parent family payment by age

EU: Representation in national parliaments

Ireland: Women and men in decision making

Ireland: Civil service general service grades

Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by size of grant

Ireland: Grants to high-performance athletes by age of athlete

Ireland: Arts council grants by artform

Ireland: Arts council grants to artists by size of grant

Ireland: Income liable for social insurance

Ireland: Average income liable for social insurance by age

Ireland: Median earned income by highest level of education

Ireland: Median earned income by occupation

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