Revealed: Proportion of women among highest earners in Ireland

Males represented 50.6% of all employment active for at least 50 weeks in 2025, compared with 49.4% for females. However, men accounted for 71.9% of employment with earnings in the top 1%.

The proportion of women among the highest earners has improved in recent years, rising from 24.8% in 2020 to 28.1% last year. The figure was 27.6% in 2024.

Public Administration and Defence had the highest proportion of female employment among top 1% earners, at 39.2%, followed by Human Health and Social Work at 38.7%.

Administrative and Support Services recorded the largest annual increase in the female share of top earners, rising 2.3 percentage points in 2025. However, the proportion fell by 1.8 percentage points in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities.

The CSO figures also highlight significant regional differences in earnings. Dublin recorded the highest median annual earnings at €50,474, which was 9% above the State median of €46,305.

More than half (54.9%) of employment in the top 1% of earners was held by people living in Dublin, despite the capital accounting for just 29.5% of all employment.

The gender earnings gap was narrowest in Sligo, at 8.5%, while male median earnings in Meath were 30% higher than female earnings.

Sinéad Cullen, co-founder of Irish corporate wellness and financial planning company Lifecraft, said the figures demonstrated that women remained significantly underrepresented among Ireland's highest earners.

“While there has been much progress on gender equality in the workforce in recent years, today’s CSO figures show that women remain underrepresented among Ireland's highest earners, with just 28% of the top 1% of earners being women,” she said.

Cullen, who is also vice-president of Corporate Partners at the Professional Women’s Network Dublin, said lower earnings, career breaks and missed promotion opportunities could have financial consequences that accumulate over decades.

She also highlighted the gender pension gap, with Eurostat figures showing women's average pension income in Ireland was 31% lower than men's in 2024.

 “Financial education and planning are essential, but women cannot be expected to close structural inequalities through better financial decisions alone,” she said.

“Ultimately, this is about financial independence, security and having choices, both during our working lives and in retirement.”

* This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.ie.