A report from the Central Statistics Office says men are more likely to leave school early and women are more likely to have a third-level qualification.
Read the full CSO report
It also finds that women live longer than men, work fewer hours, earn less and are under-represented in local and regional authorities and in the Oireachtas.
The findings are contained in the CSO's report on Women and Men in Ireland 2009.
Men have a higher rate of employment, but also a higher rate of unemployment.
The report also finds that most workers in the health and education sectors are women but they are not well represented at senior level.
The CSO also says women are more likely to be admitted to hospital with depression and men are more likely to be admitted with schizophrenia and alcoholic disorders.
The prison population is overwhelmingly male and most murder victims are male, according to the report.
