Gender disparities evident from the cradle to the grave

WOMEN are four times more likely than men to be primary school teachers, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

In 2006, Ireland had 27,515 teachers at primary level and an overwhelming 84% of them were female.

A gender imbalance also runs through the numbers of students in education — 62% of 19-year-old females were in education full time but that proportion fell to 45% for males of the same age.