New figures from the Central Statistics Office show the estimated number of women in employment jumped by 82.1% to a total of 1,328,900 in the fourth quarter of 2025 from 729,900 reported in the fourth quarter of 2000.
The Human Health & Social Work Sector had the highest number of female employees, followed by the Education sector, with women representing around three-quarters of employees in both sectors in 2025.
Today's CSO figures also show that the number of women who reported their main economic status as "engaged in home duties" decreased by 61.8% from 520,500 in 2010 to 198,800 in 2025.
Women accounted for 41.7% of people in full-time employment in the final quarter of 2025, and 67.1% of persons in part-time employment.
The CSO also said that 63.6% of women in employment had a third level degree compared with 52.8% of men in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, median weekly earnings for women rose by 39.2% between 2014 (€469.85) and 2024 (€654.07).
This compares with an increase of 36.5% in median weekly earnings for men over the same period, from €587.52 in 2014 to €802.14 in 2024.
The CSO said the proportion of women among the top 1% of earners increased from 22.6% in 2019 to 27.6% in 2024, while the proportion of women with earnings in the top 10% rose from 27.9% to 30.6% over the same period.
Today's figures show that Indian women had the highest median weekly earnings in 2024 at €919.27, followed by Irish women at €677.02 and UK nationals at €646.01.
The CSO also noted that Indian women were the only nationality group who recorded median weekly earnings higher than those of their male counterparts (€821.96) - a trend which has been observed since 2020.
