While 46pc of entry roles in Ireland are held by women, this falls below 25pc for both VP and C-suite level according to LinkedIn and WEF data.
Women in Ireland remain underrepresented at leadership level and are less likely to be promoted to leadership roles than men. That’s according to new data released by LinkedIn and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The data on Ireland showed that just under one quarter (24pc) of C-suite positions in Ireland are held by women. On a global level, women hold less than one third of leadership positions. According to the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report 2022, it will take another 132 years to close the gender gap.
In Ireland, LinkedIn and the WEF’s data revealed that women are more underrepresented at managerial and senior levels. At entry level, 46pc of roles in Ireland are held by women. Climbing up the seniority ladder, the share of Irish women holding manager roles drops slightly to 42pc, before falling to below 25pc for both VP and C-suite level.
The data also suggests that men in Ireland are 15pc more likely to receive internal promotions to leadership roles than women. While this is a negative finding, Ireland performed better than some other countries in this specific area.
Of the 34 countries reviewed, Ireland recorded the third lowest gap in probability for men to be internally promoted to senior positions in an organisation. Countries such as the Czech Republic (81pc) or the Netherlands (69pc), had much higher levels of men being internally promoted to leadership roles.
The data for the research was drawn from the anonymised and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn’s more than 830m members around the world. It is influenced by how its members choose to use the platform.
The share of women in leadership represents the total number of women holding director, VP, C-suite or partner positions divided by the total number of men and women holding these positions.
The internal promotion rate reflects the number of LinkedIn members who added a new leadership position at the same employer to their profile in 2021 divided by the total number of members holding entry, senior or manager-level positions during that year. Global data includes all countries with at least 100,000 LinkedIn members as of May 2022.
Commenting on the research, LinkedIn’s head of global public policy Sue Duke, said: “The pandemic hit working women harder than men, as traditional gender roles took hold and female-dominated sectors bore the brunt of lockdowns. The serious lack of women in leadership positions continues to be a real problem, yet data shows that male colleagues are far more likely to be promoted into leadership roles.
“While the data is deeply concerning, it points to where progress can be made. It’s clear that taking a hard look at hiring and promotion practices is a critical factor, as is making flexible working the norm for everyone,” she concluded.
In May of this year a report by national non-profit network Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) found that companies that measured diversity and inclusion in the workplace were more likely to have greater percentages of women in leadership roles.
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