Gender balance in Irish business remains a pressing issue, and the disparity in the numbers of men and women employed by Irish companies only becomes greater the further up the ladder you go.

EU data shows Ireland as the seventh best country for gender equality among member states, although gender inequality is most pronounced in the domain of power, where Ireland ranks 10th, and more specifically in political decision making (17th).

Just four of the 15 cabinet ministers in the present government are women, although junior ministers Pippa Hackett and Hildegarde Naughton also attend cabinet, and there are now just two female CEOs at ISEQ20 companies.

Women hold 42% of managerial roles, and less than a quarter (24%) of positions at C-suite levels, according to the Employment & Recruitment Federation.

This despite women making up close to half the workforce. Analysis of Irish users on LinkedIn shows that women account for 45% and men 55% of the 1.84m Irish-based accounts on the professional networking site.

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Unsurprisingly, managing director is among the professional roles most dominated by men in Ireland, along with positions such as engineer, software developer, driver, electrician, carpentry and security.

Similarly, men dominate in the construction, automotive, civil engineering, automation, security, technology and military industries. Conversely, the top professions in Ireland most dominated by women are:

• Nurse
• Receptionist
• Primary school teacher
• Carer
• Office manager
• Accounts assistant
• Admin assistant

It seems clear that stereotypes when it comes to hiring decisions, and perhaps the jobs men and women are most conditioned to take on, still remain.

By and large, men are entrusted with technical positions, operating heavy machinery, and roles that ostensibly require strength, while women are tabbed as caregivers and assistants. The top sectors for female representation would appear to support this notion:

• Healthcare
• Education
• Family services
• Cosmetics
• Non-profits
• Civic organisations

Furthermore, data from LinkedIn for the top 10 industries in Ireland, in terms of total employment, shows how professional roles are still quite traditionally skewered:

• Hospitals and healthcare: 71% female: 29% male
• Computer software: 35% female; 65% male
• Construction: 15% female; 85% male
• IT & services: 33% female; 67% male
• Higher education: 54% female; 46% male
• Retail: 52% female; 48% male
• Pharmaceutical: 47% female; 53% male
• Banking: 49% female; 51% male
• Hospitality: 50% female; 50% male
• Education management: 64% female; 36% male

"Male-dominated industries have been shown to be prone to gender stereotyping in workplace studies," said Geraldine King, CEO of the Employment & Recruitment Federation.

"Women in these industries encounter barriers to advancement, often credited to factors like leadership style, management training, and performance evaluation practices.

"Unconscious bias is difficult to identify and prevent, and can be ingrained in a company culture."

Even in industries where women make up the majority of the workforce, there is still a leadership gap. For instance, women only account for 32% of senior roles in retail and 46% in wellness and fitness despite comprising 51% and 63% of staff in those sectors, respectively, and data from LinkedIn shows that men are 15% more likely to win an internal promotion to leadership roles than women.

"Industry is crying out for talent, and yet we appear to have this conscious or unconscious gender bias that needs to be fixed. If we don’t close the equity gap at the entry-point to leadership, it will be much harder to create a pipeline of talented women in leadership roles later," said King.

"So, if that means dedicated schools’ programmes, more affordable childcare, more flexible work practices, and actively closing the gender pay gap, we need real workable solutions. Proactive employers, conscious of securing talent in any shape or form, must be keen to end gender stereotyping in the workplace.

"Ireland is seeing gradual improvement in the gender pay gap, which the pending legislation will reinforce further," King added.

"There is equal access to education; and the shift towards more flexibility in work schedules and location was accelerated during Covid, and shown to be manageable and, in many cases, more productive than traditional office presenteeism."

King has called on organisations to invest in mentoring and training programmes at pre-manager level, give unconscious bias training for hiring managers, reframe job descriptions, and offer greater flexibility.