Minister O’Gorman publishes Spotlight report on Women and Girls in Ireland

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman, has today published a report, titled The State of the Nation's Women and Girls. The report collates available data on the lives of women and girls across five key areas: demographics, health, education, employment and, poverty and social vulnerability. The report provides statistical analysis in each area and examines trends over time.

Speaking about this report, Minister O'Gorman said

"I am delighted to see the progress that has been made in the lives of women and girls over the past decade in Ireland and in particular during my time as Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. It is encouraging to see positive outcomes in relation to the health, education, employment and poverty levels of women and girls. Female life expectancy has risen and both girls and women are more active. There are more females reaching third level education, more young girls registered for early care and education (ECCE), and less females leaving school early. There are a larger proportion of women in the labour force, female unemployment is drastically down, and there are larger proportions of women in sectors like Construction, Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities and, Information and Communication. The median wage for women has increased and the gender pay gap has reduced. There is greater representation of women in parliament, in government and among senior administrators. There are also less women and girls at risk of poverty and in consistent poverty.

"The National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020: Creating a Better Society for All published by this department has played a key role in progressing the lives of women and girls in many of the areas covered in this report.

"However, there are some areas of the lives of women and girls that require continued efforts from the government and this department. The new strategy for women and girls, currently under development by this department will provide a roadmap towards continued positive change in these areas. "

This report on women and girls is the fifteenth report in a series of Statistical Spotlights. These Spotlight publications are topical in nature and of interest to both specialist and general readers.

Some of the key findings from the report are:

Demographics

• The female population has grown from 2.32m in 2011 to 2.60m in 2022, particularly in the older age groups due to an ageing population. Female net migration has also increased substantially from 11,500 outwards in 2011 to 38,000 inwards in 2024.

Health

• Female life expectancy has increased from 83.0 years in 2011 to 84.2 years in 2022, placing Ireland 8th in the EU27 countries. However, the proportion of females reporting that they are in good or very good health has reduced somewhat from 88.1% in 2011 to 82.8% in 2022.
• In 2022, girls aged 10-17 (47.0%) remained less likely than boys (62.6%) to meet the national guidelines on physical activity for children, though activity among girls has risen steadily from 2014-2022. However, in adulthood the proportion of women meeting the national physical activity guidelines tends to be greater than the proportion of men.
• Female mental health performs consistently lower than that of males and has worsened since 2016.

Education

• There has been a substantial increase in the percentage of women attaining third level education, rising from below 37.6% in 2011 to 50.4% in 2023.
• The percentage of female early school leavers has fallen substantially since 2011 and is at 2% in 2024.
• In terms of subject choice at secondary level, females have the highest representation in Home Economics, Art and Music and the lowest representation in Engineering Studies, Construction Studies, and Technology. Looking at third level, the fields of study with the highest percentage of females are Health and welfare, and Education, with the lowest representation in ICT, and in Engineering, manufacturing, and construction.

Employment

• The female labour force participation rate has increased in recent years from 63.6% in Q1 2011 to 74.2% in Q2 2024, compared to 82.1% for males. While female unemployment has dropped steadily from 12.0% in Q1 2011 to 4.6% in Q2 2024.
• In 2023, the sectors with the highest number of females employed were Human Health and Social Work (277.2 thousand employed), Education (160.6 thousand) and Wholesale and Retail Trade (160.4 thousand).
• One of the sectors with the lowest female representation in 2023 was Construction (12.9 thousand). However, the growth of females in this sector was the largest proportional growth of any sector, increasing by 135% since 2011.
• Median weekly earnings for females have increased by 25.6% from 2011 to €592.92 in 2022. However, females with an upper secondary level of education earn 7.7% less than males with the same education level and 6.6% less than males when it comes to third level education.
• Despite this, the gender pay gap in Ireland has fallen from 12.7% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2022.
• Female representation in parliament has improved from 19.0% in 2011 to 27.8% in 2023, though remains below the EU27 average of 33.2%. The number of females in senior positions in national administrations has also increased from 22.1% in 2011 to 41.8% in 2023.

Social Vulnerability

• In general, the percentage of females who are financially vulnerable has fallen since 2011. In 2011, 15.6% of females were at risk of poverty, this has dropped by over 5 percentage points to 10.4% in 2023.
• The number of people recorded as homeless on Census night has increased since 2016 for both males and females.
• The number of rape and sexual assault offences and attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments, and related offences reported by women have increased from 2016 to 2023. This may indicate increased disclosure and willingness to report such crimes.

The full report titled The State of the Nation's Women and Girls can be found here. To access other reports in the Statistical Spotlight Series, click here.

Notes for Editors

The data in this Spotlight was primarily sourced from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Eurostat, but also from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Pobal, the Department of Education, and from within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) and Ukraine data) and international and national surveys like the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey, the Irish Sports Monitor and the Healthy Ireland Survey.