Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
187. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of job opportunities for women likely to emerge in the manufacturing or services sectors over the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35405/20]
View answerAccording to the Central Statistics Office's (CSO) Labour Force Survey, female employees make up 29.5% of those employed in manufacturing and 53.1% of those employed in services. These proportions have not changed significantly in the past decade. Please see table below.
Table 1: Employment in manufacturing and services by gender, Q2 2020
|
Sector |
Male (000's) |
% Male |
Female (000)'s) |
% Female |
|
Industry/ Manufacturing |
204.2 |
70.5% |
85.3 |
29.5% |
|
Services |
797.4 |
46.9% |
904.3 |
53.1% |
Source: CSO, Labour Force Survey
My Department and I, and our enterprise development agencies, are committed to optimising all available skills and talent throughout the country. Enterprise Ireland has placed a focus on increasing the number of women-led start-ups and the number of women in leadership positions in companies. To support this, in early 2020, Enterprise Ireland launched an Action Plan for Women in Business with the objective of:
- Increasing the number of women-led established companies growing internationally;
- Increasing the number of women in middle and senior management and leadership roles in Irish companies;
- Increasing the number of women becoming entrepreneurs; and
- Increasing the number of women-led start-ups with high growth potential.
The 2025 ambition for the delivery of the objectives is to achieve:
- 100 per cent increase the number of women-led companies growing internationally;
- 100 per cent increase in participation rate of women on Enterprise Ireland Management Development programmes;
- 50 per cent increase in women participants on start-up programmes;
- 50 per cent increase in Local Enterprise Office supports to women in business: and
- 30 per cent increase in the proportion of female founded High Potential Start-Ups.
Enterprise Ireland informs me that, in 2019, it had 38 women led start-ups.
In the most recent call under Enterprise Ireland's Competitive Start Fund in April 2020, 27 of the 117 applications put forward for evaluation had a female shareholder (minimum 25% shareholding) and had women in the lead management team.
Following evaluation, 38% of the successful applicants had a female shareholder (minimum 25% shareholding) and had women in the lead management team.
