Women accounted for fewer than 20 per cent of CEO roles in Ireland and made up less than a third of senior executive teams, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The agency’s gender balance in business survey examined gender representation across large businesses (those with 250 or more employees).
It found that 19.2 per cent of chief executives in the Republic were women in 2025, compared with 19 per cent in 2023, the last time the survey was conducted.
Women’s low representation in leadership roles has attracted growing attention from policymakers and many companies are now measuring retention and pay levels to ensure better levels of equality.
RM Block
While the Irish figures highlight a gender disparity, they still compare favourably with other international studies. Among the 2024 Fortune 500 list of top companies, women made up just 9 per cent of chief executives.
On this episode of Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by Billy Hann, chief executive of Dublin Bus, the biggest public transport company in our capital city. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.
The CSO’s study found that almost a third (32.3 per cent) of senior executives in the Republic were women, up from 30.4 per cent in 2023, while women held approximately a quarter (27.9 per cent) of company board seats.
The arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector had the highest percentage of female representation at board level at 41.4 per cent, followed by the information and communication sector (34.1 per cent), financial and insurance activities (32.7 per cent) and administrative and support service activities at 32.3 per cent.
Although the construction sector at 15.2 per cent had the lowest level of women in senior executive roles in 2025, that number has increased from 13.4 per cent in 2023 and 9.5 per cent in 2021.
[ Gender pay gap: Ireland’s worst offenders in 2024 on hourly payOpens in new window ]
The CSO’s survey found that one-third (33.3 per cent) of enterprises indicated that they had set targets for female representation at senior executive level.
Of those that had set targets, 71.8 per cent indicated that the achievement of targets was a performance goal of senior executives.
“While today’s report shows there has been some progress on female representation at board level, as well as a slight increase in the number of women in CEO roles, there is still much room for improvement,” said Jennifer Loftus, chief financial officer and chief actuary for life assurance group, Acorn Life.
“Today’s report shows that less than three in 10 (28 per cent) of board members in Ireland are female, that two-thirds of senior executives in Ireland are male, and that there has been a fall in the number of female chairpersons,” she said.
“We need to see more women in decision-making roles in the workplace. Having women at the decision-making table generally works out better for all in the workplace and across all sectors of society,” Ms Loftus said.
“It also gives women a better chance to improve their pay prospects as, typically, the more senior the role, the better the pay,” she said.
