WOMEN ARE MORE highly qualified than men and do better than boys at second-level – but earn less and are under-represented in decision-making bodies.

Meanwhile men leave school earlier, make up more of the prison population, and have a far higher rate of unemployment than women.

These results were among the findings of a report entitled Women and Men in Ireland published by the Central Statistics Office today which compared social and economic factors by gender.

The study found that men are more likely to be in the labour force while those looking after homes and families are overwhelmingly female. Women make up the vast majority of workers in the health and education sectors while most workers in construction and agriculture are men.

Women are more likely to be admitted to hospital with depression while more men are admitted with schizophrenia and alcoholic disorders.

Some of the other findings from today’s report include:

Education

Men were far more likely than women to be early school leavers. 8.4 per cent of women aged 18-24 in 2010 were early school leavers, compared to 12.6 per cent of men.

At second level, more girls obtained an A or B in an honours paper in Leaving Certificate exams in language and humanities subjects including English, Irish, French, Art and Music, while boys did better on Maths, Physics and Engineering papers.

Meanwhile at third-level women are more likely than men to have a third-level qualification of some kind. Over half of women aged 15-23 have a third-level qualification compared with 39 per cent of men in this age group.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate for men is far higher than that for women, with the report finding 17.5 per cent of men were unemployed in 2011. The figures for women increased sharply in 2009 and stood at 10.4 per cent in 2011. In the 20-24 age group around one third of men and just over a fifth of women were unemployment in 2011.

Decision making

Women are dramatically underrepresented in decision-making bodies at both national and regional levels, including the Dáil, state boards, local authorities and VECs, the report found. Just 15.1 per cent of TDs in the Dáil in 2011 were women, while just over a third of members of state boards were female.

Migration

The study noted that immigration into Ireland was highest between 2005 and 2008 but has since dropped dramatically. Unsurprisingly emigration rose steeply between 2006 and 2011 resulting in a net outflow leaving the country in 2011 of 18,600 men and 15,500 women.

Health

Women were significantly more likely to be hospitalised in 2010, making up 343 hospital discharges per 1,000 women compared with 305 discharges per 1,000 men. Meanwhile when it comes to mental health, men are more likely to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals for schizophrenia and alcoholism while women are more likely to be admitted for depression.

Occupation

There were a total of 851,3000 women and 870,000 men employed in Ireland in 2011, the study found. A high percentage of women in employment were in professional (23.7 per cent) or administrative/secretarial occupations (20 per cent) while many of the men were in skilled trades occupations (24.7 per cent) or professional occupations (15 per cent).

Sectors where men and women work

Women make up more than 80 per cent of employees in the health sector and nearly 75 per cent of those in education, reflecting the high numbers of female teachers. Construction, agriculture and transport sectors all had the highest proportions of men in 2010.

Despite making up 85 per cent of primary teachers and 63 per cent of second-level teachers, women are less well-represented at senior level positions. 41 per cent of second-level managers and 53 per cent of primary school managers are female.

Income

Women’s income in 2009 was around 73 per cent of that of men’s income, the study found. However after an adjustment to take account of the numbers of women working part-time or fewer hours, the study found women’s hourly earnings to be around 94 per cent that of men’s.

Poverty

Men and women are almost equally likely to be at risk of poverty, with the study showing that 15 per cent of men were at risk of poverty in 2010, only slightly above the rate of 14 per cent for women.

Crime

Men far outnumber women in Irish prisons and they also made up the majority of murder victims. Of the more than 12,000 people in prison in 2010, one in eight was female. 47 men were victims of murder or manslaughter in the same year while 11 women died that way in 2010.

Read the full report: Women and Men in Ireland 2011