Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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112. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which women and men have had equal opportunity to take up jobs in the workplace over the past four years; the extent to which this is in line with international trends throughout Europe, and globally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42246/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Equality of opportunity in the workplace is enshrined in the Employment Equality Acts which provide protection to workers and jobseekers against discrimination - including on gender grounds - in a wide range of employment and employment-related areas.

Since the introduction of the Action Plan for Jobs, 135,800 extra people are at work. The improving jobs market has presented opportunities for all sections of the labour market, and for both men and women. The overall rate of unemployment has fallen from over 15% in 2012, to 8.9% in October 2015. The unemployment rate for females decreased from 11.4% in Q1 2012, to 7.4% in Q3 2015. For males the equivalent decline was from 18.1% in 2012, to 10.5% in Q3 2015, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In terms of the distribution of employment growth, males accounted for 70%, or 95,300, of the employment growth over the period. This is broadly equivalent to the 68% share of males in the labour force in Q3 2015, and mostly in full-time roles. Of the 41,000 extra females at work over the period since early 2012, 75% were in full-time employment.

Among the initiatives in the Action Plan for Jobs to ensure equal opportunity is the highlighting of female role models in industry to increase female participation on ICT courses and in employment in the sector through the Smart Futures Programme.

Enterprise Ireland has also had a very successful focus on promoting female entrepreneurship via promotional and support programmes.

Data from Eurostat indicates that the average employment rate for females in the 28 EU Member States was 59.6% in 2014, with the Irish female employment rate at 56.7%. However, there has been an improvement in Ireland’s female employment rate in 2015 and the rate reached 58.2% in Q3 2015.