by HRHQ Editorial Team
The latest data from the Balance for Better Business (B4BB) Review Group, reveals continued consolidation in the proportion of women on the boards of Ireland’s largest listed companies.
Released to coincide with International Women’s Day, the figures from the Government established initiative show that the proportion of women represented on the boards of ISEQ20 companies has remained steady at a key threshold of 40%, although has softened slightly from 42% to 40%. Female representation across the all listed companies cohort also continues to trend positively at 38%.
The latest data, which analyses the composition of board and leadership teams across publicly listed companies in Ireland in March 2025, reveals that Ireland now ranks 6th in the EU for female board representation. This represents a major transformation from its position in 16th in 2018, although there has been a slight decline from 5th position since November 2025.
Female representation on the leadership teams of Ireland’s largest listed companies has remained steady at 26%. The proportion of women on the leadership teams across the all listed companies cohort has increased slightly to 26%. Ireland continues to perform relatively well against its peers on leadership teams, ranking 6th in the EU for female representation on executive teams, and up from 9th position since November 2025.
However, more work is needed to accelerate the pace of progress in key areas. The gap between executive and non-executive director representation remains significant and indicates a growing pipeline challenge. While female non-executive director representation remains strong at 48%, executive director representation continues to fall, dropping by 3 percentage points to 8% since November.
The data also reveals a continued challenge in building a strong pipeline of women to key leadership positions. 70% of publicly listed companies have three or more women on their boards. In comparison, there is a significant drop off on leadership teams: 45% of ISEQ20 companies have 3 or more females on their leadership teams, followed by 43% across the all listed companies cohort.
The proportion of women in key decision-making roles also remains a key focus area. Due to changes in the composition of the ISEQ20, there is now only one female CEO and one female chair on the index. More positively, there are three female CFOs across the all listed companies cohort. There is strong continued representation of women in Senior Independent Director (SID) roles in the ISEQ20 at 59%, down slightly from 63% in H2 2025.
