Men are three times more likely than women to end up in top nursing posts even though they make up just 8 per cent of the nursing profession, the conference in Galway heard yesterday.
Prof Pat O'Connor, professor of sociology and social policy at the University of Limerick, said the prospects for women being promoted had got worse rather than better in recent years.
In the mid-1990s, a survey in the Midland and Mid-Western Health Board areas found the possibility of a female staff nurse getting a top nursing post was one in 28.
The chances for men were one in 14.
Now, however, the odds on a female nurse getting a top post had moved out to one in 40 while the chance of men getting such a promotion had improved to one in 13.
This was despite the fact that 92 per cent of nurses are women. Furthermore, she said, women made up just 29 per cent of top management posts in health boards.
Prof O'Connor suggested the existence of a glass ceiling in the nursing profession had implications for the quality of patient care.
However, she emphasised it was not unique to nursing. Four out of every five legislators were men and more than two thirds of higher-level jobs in the Civil Service were taken up by men.
Ms Sally Ann Kinahan, advocacy and general services manager with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said it was ironic that men who lifted boxes got paid more than women who lifted patients.
The INO has called on the Government to implement recommendations contained in the Commission on Nursing report, published in 1998, which would provide dedicated leadership programmes for staff nurses and clinical nurse managers.
This, it feels, would help empower more female nurses break through the glass ceiling.