Number of female chairpersons increases to 19 per cent – CSO

Muireann Duffy

The number of women in chairperson roles in Ireland increased to 19 per cent in 2023, up from 14 per cent in 2021.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) also show one in four (25 per cent) board of director members are now female, up from 22 per cent.

The data concerns large enterprises of 250 or more employees, which were asked to provide information pertaining to their senior executive team and board of directors on January 1st of this year. Of the almost 700 enterprises included, 69 per cent completed the survey, the CSO said.

While the number of women in chief executive office (CEO) roles rose from 13 per cent to 19 per cent over the same period, the number in chief financial officer (CFO) positions dropped from 28 per cent to just under 26 per cent.

Overall, 70 per cent of senior executives in Ireland were male in 2023, with women holding the remaining 30 per cent of positions in these ranks.

The number of women in senior executive roles was highest in the 'arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities' sector (43.6 per cent), followed by 'accommodation & food service activities' (36.8 per cent) and 'financial and insurance activities' (33.9 per cent).

The transport and construction sectors had the lowest gender balance, with women holding 26.2 per cent and 13.4 per cent of senior executive roles in these areas respectively.

The data also found that 24.7 per cent of enterprises in Ireland had at least 40 per cent representation of women at board level, up from 18.4 per cent in 2021, while 29.4 per cent of firms had that same level of female representation at senior executive level. However, this figure showed a much more marginal gain on the corresponding number from 2021 of 28.6 per cent.