Three-quarters of women in State have no established plan to advance their career, survey finds

The Republic lags behind its global peers when it comes to the empowerment of women in the workplace, with just one in four women in the State having an established plan to advance their career, a new report by PwC has found.

Based on a 2021 survey of women across 33 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Ireland ranks 12th in the accountancy and professional services giant’s Women in Work Index, three places higher than in the previous index.

The State’s improved performance is mostly related to a rise in the female labour participation rate from 65.6 per cent in 2020 to 69.6 per cent in 2021. The representation of women in Irish boardrooms also increased in from 26.8 per cent in 2020 to 31 per cent in 2021.

However, the rise in the rankings, published to mark International Women’s Day on Wednesday, conceals some lingering inequalities, PwC said.

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For example, just 25 per cent of 252 Irish women surveyed said they had an established plan to further their career with their current employer, compared with 35 per cent of the 22,000 women surveyed globally.

Meanwhile, as PwC highlighted in a recent report, Ireland’s average gender pay gap stood at 12.6 per cent last year, slightly better than the average 14 per cent gap across the OECD in 2021. But Irish women also have slightly different priorities to their OECD peers as a whole, with 79 per cent of Irish respondents indicating that fair compensation was the most important factor when considering their empowerment in the workplace, compared with 75 per cent globally.

PwC said its research indicates that at the current pace, it will take more 50 years for the OECD countries surveyed to address the gender pay gap.

However, fixing the problem could add trillions of dollars in value to the constituent economies, boosting Irish gross domestic product by $50 million (€47.5 million) or 8 per cent annually, according to the research.

“CEOs and employers should do all they can to build a balanced workplace culture where women feel as empowered as men, and where women are fairly rewarded and experience autonomy, meaning and a sense of belonging at work,” said PwC Ireland partner Emma Scott.

“This will have the dual benefit of building trust across the organisation and supporting women’s advancement. In today’s business world, it’s up to all of us as leaders to set the tone from the top to drive a culture that is inclusive and equitable for all employees.”