Women are under-represented in decision-making structures both nationally and regionally according to a CSO gender report released today.
The figures also showed that while the education and health sectors employed the highest proportion of women, with around an 80 per cent of the total, women were not well represented at senior level positions.
In the health service, women represented just over 30 per cent of medical and dental consultants.
Similarly, they accounted for 84.7 per cent of primary school teachers but only 51 per cent of primary school managers.
However, the report also revealed that the female employment rate (60.3 per cent) in Ireland exceeds 2010 EU target of 60 per cent.
The employment rate for men was 77.2 per cent, well above the average 2006 EU rate of around 71.6 per cent.
Women's income in 2005 was around two-thirds of men's income, however, after adjusting for differences in hours worked women's hourly earnings were around 86 per cent of their male colleagues.
Life expectancy for women was estimated as being 4 years more than for men in 2005.