Women better educated but have less power
More than half of women aged between 25 and 35 have a third-level qualification, compared with just over four out of 10 men, according to the report Women and Men in Ireland 2013, published by the CSO yesterday.
However, men are more likely to be in the labour force and those looking after home/family are overwhelmingly female.
Most workers in the health and education sectors are women, while most workers in transport, agriculture, and construction are men.
Men worked an average of 39.2 hours a week in paid employment in 2013, compared to 31.2 hours for women, and married men worked longer hours than married women, with close to half of married men (44.1%) working for 40 hours a week, or more compared to just 16.8% of married women.
The female employment rate reached 60.6% in 2007, before dropping to 57.6% in 2009, and it continued to decrease over the next three years to stand at 55.2% by 2012. The last two years have seen a small rise in the female employment rate to 55.9%.
The unemployment rate for men in Ireland was about 5% up to recent years, but in 2009, it increased dramatically to 15.3%, followed by further rises over the following three years to reach 18.1% by 2012.
There was a drop in the male unemployment rate in 2013 to 15.9% and another decrease this year to 13.8%.
The female unemployment rate, which stood at about 4% in recent years, also rose dramatically to 8.3% in 2009 and continued to rise over the next four years to reach 11.4% in 2013.
However, the female rate of unemployment decreased in 2014 to 9.9%.
The younger age groups have been most affected by unemployment, with approximately three out of 10 men and two out of 10 women aged 20-24 unemployed in 2013.
Women are significantly under-represented in decision-making structures in Ireland at both national and regional levels.
In 2013, only 15.7% of TDs in the Dáil were women and they accounted for less than a fifth of members of local authorities and just over one third of the membership of vocational education committees. The average female representation in national parliaments in the EU was 27.5% in 2013.
A new index, the gender equality index, shows Ireland was ninth highest out of 27 EU member states in 2010, with a score of 55.2. This was slightly above the EU27 average score of 54, where one indicates total inequality and 100 indicates gender equality.
Gender facts
- Irish women, along with women from France, have the joint highest fertility rate in the EU;
- 55.3% of women aged 25-34 have a third-level qualification;
- More than 75% of graduates in the education, health, and welfare sectors in 2012 were female;
- Life expectancy at birth for women in Ireland was 83.2 years in 2012, compared to 78.7 for men;
- Women’s hourly earnings were around 94% of men’s in 2011;
- Unemployment rate for women is 9.9%.
- Boys are more likely to leave school early;
- Men have a higher rate of employment but also a higher rate of unemployment;
- Most murder victims are male and the vast majority of the prison population is male;
- 42.7% of men in this age group have a third-level qualification;
- 85% of graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction in 2012 were male;
- Unemployment rate for men is 13.8%.
