On Wednesday, 2 December 2020, ESRI researcher Shannen Enright presented findings from the report 'Gender balance at work a study of an Irish civil service department' via a webinar. To view the publication, click here: https://www.esri.ie/publications/gender-balance-at-work-a-study-of-an-irish-civil-service-department A video of the presentation will be made available shortly.

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Gender Balance at Work: A Study of
an Irish Civil Service Department
DATE
Wednesday 2nd December
EVENT
Report launch
AUTHORS
Shannen Enright
Helen Russell

2. Background
 Significant gender differences in senior civil service positions.
 Variation across departments and DAFM has a relatively low
proportion of women at higher grades.
 Relevant for employees, organisational efficiency and
society.
 Survey was part of wider initiative to increase gender
balance
 Builds on previous study carried out across civil service

3. Female Share of
Grades in Civil
Service, 2016
C
Secretary General
(21%)
Assistant Secretary
(33%)
Principal Officer
(40%)
Assistant Principal
(48%)
Higher Exec Officer
(58%)
Executive Officer
(60%)
Staff Officer
(79%)
Clerical Officer
(75%)
Source: Russell et al 2017

4. Research Questions
1. Is there a perception of gender bias in the department?
2. Are there gender differences in factors relevant to advancement?
 Flexible work practices
 Absence of flexibility a barrier to promotion (Russell et al 2017)
 But can also contribute to inequality if only taken up by women (Leslie et al.
2012; McIntosh et al., 2012)
 Training
 Professional networks

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Methodology
• Based on staff survey (circa 3300) carried out in fourth
quarter 2018.
• 933 responses circa 28% response rate (904 in analysis)
• Use statistical models to compare like with like
• Analyse results of recent promotion competitions

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Female Share of Occupational Stream DAFM (2019) and
Admin Grades (2018)
66
64
41
28
7
47
82
67
52
46
34
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Laboratories
Administrative
Veterinary
Inspectorate
Technical
All
Clerical Officer
Executive Officer
Higher Executive Officer
Assistant Prinicipal
Principal Officer
StreamGrade

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Experiences of Gender Bias in the Department
• 48% women and 33%
of men said they had
experienced bias
• Controlling for other
factors the odds ratio
of experiencing
gender bias was
almost twice as high
for women than men
17 16
67
20
28
52
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Moderate Amount-
Great Deal
A little None at all
Male Female

8. Experiences of Gender Bias differs across streams
Highest gender
gap in technical
& inspectorate
streams.
Both more
male-
dominated
streams

9. Perceived Gender Bias in Promotion Competitions
 Men more likely to believe there is bias in promotion
 32% of men
 11% of women
 Lower among new recruits (< 5 years)
 Did not differ by flexible working patterns, child or adult care
 Lower for those in the technical stream

10. Widest Gender Gap in Administrative Stream
0.40
0.10
0.31
0.13
0.32
0.12
0.19 0.16
0.30
0.09
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Administrative Inspectorate Laboratory Technical Veterinary

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Respondents Comments
• ‘Competitions biased in favour of females now rather than ability’
(Gender not Listed)
• ‘There is an ideological bias towards gender which can ignore
merit’ (Male)
• ‘I think people should only be promoted on their skills not the(ir)
sex’ (Female)
• ‘I think there is a positive discrimination towards female candidates
to address gender imbalance. I disagree with this and believe each
post should be filled by the best candidate’ (Male)

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Gender Balance Target
• In January 2017 introduced target of 50/50 gender balance in
senior appointments
• Preference is to be given to a female candidate only when
deciding between two candidates who have equal merit and
where women are under-represented on the management
board of the department or office in question

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Perceived Gender Bias in Promotion
• This could also be due to lack of understanding of gender
balance initiative.
• Pushback to initiative common when an in-groups lose some of
their privileged status (Eibach and Keegan, 2006)
• Perception could be influenced by stereotypes surrounding
women’s suitability for senior roles.
• ‘Lack of fit’ between the demands of senior roles and the
attributes of women (Heilman, 2012).
12/2/2020

14. Analysis of Recent Competitions
 PO competition 2017 & 2019: 11% of male applicants and 18%
of female applicants successful.
 EO competition: 17% of male candidates and 11% of female
candidates successful
 Chi Square & Exact Binomial Tests showed the differences
were not significant

15. Take up of Flexible Work Options Past & Present
 36% of respondents currently participate in flexible work options.
 Highest in administrative stream lowest in technical and
inspectorate.
 Childcare and adult care responsibilities significantly increased
take up of flexible work options
 Women have higher levels of participation in both flexible
working and leave, even when age, childcare & stream held
constant

16. But Unmet Demand….
 Almost half of those not participating would like to avail of
flexible work
 Also support for new forms of flexibility:
 73% of men and 68% of women wanted to work from home
 64% men and 74% women wished to work compressed hours

17. Perceptions of Flexible Work
 Participation linked to more positive attitudes about
Department’s support work-life balance
 But 36% believe flexible work negatively impacts promotion
opportunities.
 Those who previously availed of leave schemes more likely to
believe there was a negative impact.
 Those currently working flexibly were more optimistic.
 Belief that flexible working limits chances of promotion did not
differ significantly across streams or between men and women

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Gender Differences in Training, Network Building
and Promotions
• Training Participation
– Lower for women controlling for stream, age, length of service, and family
characteristics
– Lower in admin stream
• Building Professional Networks
– 46% agreed or strongly agreed it was easy to build professional networks
– Those in the administrative stream found it most difficult
– Women in admin stream found it more difficult than men
• Promotion
– Women less likely to have applied for promotion controlling for stream, length of
service and family characteristics
– Higher for admin stream

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Policy Recommendations I
• Perceptions and Experiences of Gender Bias
– Transparency with employees around how gender balance initiative is
implemented
– Analysis and dissemination of competition results in anonymised form
– Frame initiatives in terms of improving diversity
– Departments should consider implementing voluntary diversity task forces.
– Implementation of regular surveys to assist in identifying barriers to
gender equality the civil service

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Policy Recommendations II
• Flexible Work Options
– Extend flexible work options to more employees where possible
– Extension of options to predominantly male occupational streams
– Normalisation of working flexibly for male as well as female workers
– Covid has had unintended consequences here!
• Differences in Experiences
– Ensure women are encouraged & facilitated to participate in training
– Further develop mentoring as well as peer-to-peer networking
opportunities

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Thanks for listening!
Report is available to download at www.esri.ie/publications
Shannen.Enright@esri.ie
Helen.Russell@esri.ie