Number of women directors doubles since start of recession
The number of women in company director positions has jumped by a fifth during the recession.
Vision-net’s figures, released on International Women’s Day, show that the number of women directors in Irish companies is 99,915, compared to 84,370 five years ago and 43,282 a decade ago.
The number of Irish company directors is 317,308 and, of these, three out of 10 are women.
Almost two-thirds of women directors are in their 40s, 23% are in their 50s and just 4% are in their 20s.
Christine Cullen, managing director of Vision-net, said the figures show that Irish women are increasingly taking up company directorships.
"In the recession, the number of people starting their own businesses has increased generally, demonstrating an inherent entrepreneurship in the Irish workforce and a need to self-create business opportunities as job prospects with employers decline in adverse trading conditions," she said.
"It is encouraging that more women are now taking up company directorships as we seek to reboot the domestic economy and create new small businesses which are the engine for national recovery."
