A new report carried out by the Equality Authority and the ESRI has found that men are twice as likely as women to hold senior and middle management positions.
Read the full report
However, the study of female participation in the Irish labour market also found that women have made significant inroads into a number of previously male dominated occupations.
The study examined the Irish labour market between 1998 and 2007 and found that almost 300,000 women joined the labour market in that period.
Some of the reasons for this include rising levels of educational qualifications, increases in wages and an increase in the number of women in the 25 to 34 year age group who are more likely to work outside the home.
The number of working women with pre-school children increased by 6%, but the number of working lone mothers with children under five fell.
There were large increases in the number of women in business and commerce, managerial and executive occupations and in the number of female gardaí.
But the report points out that there has been increased feminisation of some occupations, including childcare and teaching.
One of the authors of the report, Dr Helen Russell, said that comparisons suggest the Irish labour market has one of the highest levels of segregation by gender in Europe.
