Irish women better educated but under-represented, CSO report finds

Boys are more likely to leave school early, while females are more qualified, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

More than half of women between 25 and 35 are college-educated, with less than four out of 10 men in that age bracket with a third-level qualification, the CSO's 'Women and Men in Ireland 2011' report has found.

Irish women work fewer hours, earn less and are under-represented in the Oireachtais and in local and regional authorities, however.

In 2011, only 15.1% of TDs in Dáil Éireann were women, while they accounted for just over a third of members of State Boards, less than a fifth of members of local authorities and just over a third of the membership of Vocational Education Committees. The average representation in national parliaments for EU countries was nearly a quarter in 2011.

Men have a higher rate of employment, but also a far higher rate of unemployment, as men are more likely to be in the labour force and those looking after home/family remain overwhelmingly female.

Women in Ireland have a higher fertility rate than women from any other EU country.

There were 12,487 persons committed to prison under sentence in 2010, of whom one in eight was female.