Irish women are more likely to have a third-level qualification than men, with 55.1% of women aged 25-34 having a third-level qualification in 2016 compared to just 42.9% of men in this age group.
But 98% of those who were looking after home and or family in 2016 were women.
However, the number of men in home care roles nearly doubled in the 10 years up to 2016, rising from 4,900 to 9,200.
The figures are contained in new data from the Central Statistics Office on 70 indicators that identify important gender differences in the activities of men and women.
The CSO said that more girls than boys sat higher level papers in the Leaving Certificate exams in English, French, Irish, biology, chemistry, art, home economics and music in 2016.
However, more boys than girls took higher level papers in maths, physics, design and communication graphics, construction studies and engineering.
Today's figures reveal that 82.4% of graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction were men and 79.3% of graduates in information and communication technologies were also male.
However, women represented 76.4% of graduates in health and welfare and 71.4% of graduates in education.
Today's figures also show that women are "significantly" under-represented in decision-making structures in Ireland at both national and regional levels.
Just 22.2% of TDs in the Dáil were women in 2016 and they accounted for only 21.4% of members of Local Authorities.
This compares to an average female representation in national parliaments in the EU of 28.7%.
Other statistics in today's research show that four out of every five people committed to prison in 2014 were men and the average age at which women gave birth to their first child rose from 24.8 years in 1975 to 30.5 years in 2014.
Meanwhile, female employees were paid 13.9% an hour less than male employees in Ireland in 2014 while the average EU gender pay gap in 2015 was 16.3%.
