A Study of Gender and Senior Positions in the Irish Civil Service

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@ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications www.esri.ie
A study of Gender and Senior
Positions in the Irish Civil Service
DATE
Tuesday, 12th December
EVENT
Launch
AUTHORS
Helen Russell
Emer Smyth
Selina McCoy
Raffaele Grotti
Oona Kenny
Dorothy Watson

www.esri.ie @ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications7 March 20182
• Gender inequality in access to higher positions
within occupations common.
• Individual consequences (e.g. income, status)
• Societal & economic consequences:
inefficiencies, confidence in decision-making.
• Civil service important employer of women but
significant under-representation in higher
positions remain.
• Part of response to Civil Service Renewal Plan to
improve gender balance in the civil service
Motivation

www.esri.ie @ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications@ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications www.esri.ie3 7 March 2018
Research Questions
• What is women’s current position in Irish civil service and
how has this changed over time?
• Does the promotion process contribute to gender equality
in outcomes?
• What are the main barriers to promotion?
• What measures can be taken to improve gender balance in
promotion?

Approach to the study
Mixed-methods approach
• Quantitative research:
• Secondary analyses of data
• Administrative data from DPER
• Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey 2015 ( N =10,850)
• Qualitative research:
• In-depth interviews with 50 Civil Servants (grades HEO to
Assistant Secretary) across four departments
• Interviews with 11 staff working in human resources roles

Civil Service structure and gender
composition 2016

PROPORTION OF WOMEN AT DIFFERENT GRADES
1987 - 2016
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
All
grades
CO SO EO AO HEO AP PO ASC SEC
1987 1997 2007 2016
Data for 1987 and 1997 1999 report by Humphreys et al 1999. Data for 2007
and 2016 come from the Civil Service Human Resource Management System.

• Women make up 63% of civil servants but only 21% of
Sec Gens
• Men are twice as likely to occupy senior positions as
women with the same level of qualifications and length
of service
• Female share of external appointments to PO and above
have increased over time
• Women remain under-represented in internal
appointments to PO via promotion.
• TLAC figures 2010 to 2015: women were much less likely
to apply for ASec or Sec Gen but were somewhat more
likely to be successful
Current Situation

Do women apply for senior
positions (AS and Above)?
Women strongly underrepresented in applications. But perform at least as well as men,
Lower N means female candidates likely to be more selective group.
26
24
22 21
27
29
41
43
38
24
27
33
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Applications received
Successful candidates
Female share of applicants and successful candidates, TLAC

Views of the promotion process

The promotion process
• Approach was broadly seen as fair
• Interviewees approved of move from seniority-based system and
formalisation of the process
• But view that over-emphasis on performance at interview and
competency test and too little on performance in current role:
You can see people who can get on the stage and be so good and they could
sell any story to you and then they might have never been in that situation,
they might have never done that job. They might know of the job because
they sat beside the person who did it. But it doesn't mean you know they
can do it. (Female HEO/AP)
• View that tests could be coached/learnt

Barriers to Promotion

1. Access to certain types of experiences
2. Gender differences in self-confidence & perceptions of
readiness
3. Lack of structured handover in new positions: sink or
swim
4. Lack of flexible working options in senior positions
5. High workload & work pressure
Key Findings – Barriers to Promotion

Some types of experience more
conducive to promotion than others
• Policy work, interaction with Ministers and
stakeholders, acting up - “policy as Nirvana”
• Operational positions, service delivery roles - more
difficult to demonstrate competencies
• But opportunities not equally distributed by gender or
by geographical location (qual)
• CSEES results showed that senior women more likely
to be involved in service delivery than men

1. Access to certain types of experiences (senior women
more involved in service delivery)
“readiness”
swim

Self Confidence and “Readiness”
I have seen people looking [considering promotion] and there might
be ten criteria and a woman would have nine and she’d go, “I can’t go
for that”, a guy would have two and he’d go, “oh I can have that no
problem”. (Female HEO/AP)
It is a bit of a cliché ... but men tend to apply for promotion because
it’s going, women tend to be much more careful in terms of – do they
tick every single box? Whereas you know lads who probably have less
going for them in a lot of ways but have a more self-assured perception
of themselves. (Female PO/AS)
• Women more likely to apply for posts in ‘familiar’ areas limiting the
potential posts they apply for
• Postponement of application for promotion means women can ‘run out
of time’

readiness
swim

Lack of induction/handover
I found it … I have to say daunting in the first probably couple of months.
....I find something about the PO side of things is that I know it happens at
most levels, but it’s instantaneous. So, you kind of, you know, you get the
role and tomorrow morning you start. And you’re told, “Well, there’s a
meeting and the Taoiseach’s going to it”. … so you’re kind of – you really
are – on a wing and a prayer for a while. (Male PO/AS)
More and more people are just being moved at short notice and they’re
moving into the job where the other person’s already gone or going in a
day and this kind of thing.… You cannot expect the organisation to run if
you’re not given proper handovers and training people in when they’re
taking on new roles. (Female HEO/AP)
• Affects women and men, but combined with higher threshold
for “readiness” means women more discouraged
• Reluctance to apply in areas outside current expertise

readiness
swim

Proportion Working Part-time
by Grade & Gender, 2016
Source: DPER Human Resources Management System
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
CO SO EO HEO AP AO PO ASEC/SEC
Male
Female
All

Loss of flexibility
I got a phone call … to say I was getting promoted [to PO] … before I
accepted the post they told me there would be no more shorter
working year … “enjoy the sunshine now” … I was surprised it was
that clinical, it was that cold. (Female PO/AS)
When I got my promotion [to PO] ... I was told that I couldn’t take
one day a week parental leave. That I would have to work full-time.
Now, I argued strongly that taking parental leave I am still working
full-time. It’s not part-time work … but I was told “no” … Well, I was
very annoyed because it did make me think that all the family-
friendly things that we say, actually when it comes down to it it’s
not true at all. (Female PO/AS)

readiness
swim

Work Pressure & long hours culture
• 70% of those at PO and above felt that they had too much
work for one person
• 64% never had enough time to get everything done.
• 50% thought not enough time to do everything well.
• Particularly high among senior women
• Loss of flexibility together with high pressure resulted
in work-family conflict for those with child or elder
care responsibilities. Deterred further advancement

Implications for policy and practice
• Structured period of induction/ handover
• Mentoring and coaching in new roles
• Systematic approach to career development (developing skills
across a range of functions)
• Assessment of workload and task organisation in senior
positions
• Access to flexible work arrangements; differences across
Departments suggest organisational culture plays a role
• Greater weight to prior performance in selection process
• On-going monitoring of gender differences. CSEES offers
significant scope by adding further questions

Thanks for listening.
Full report is available to download at
www.esri.ie/publications/

Profile of Interviewees

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Private Public Public Admin >=HEO >=EO
QNHS DPER
Manager Total
HOW DOES CIVIL SERVICE COMPARE TO OTHER SECTORSIN IRELAND?
EU LFS 2014

FEMALE SHARE OF MANAGERIAL POSITIONS IN THE PRIVATE, PUBLIC,
AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SECTORS, BY COUNTRY
EU Labour Force Survey, 2014
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
DE DK SK CH PT NL AT UK IT BE FR HU PL IE SE
Private Public Public Administration

Do women feel they have fewer
opportunities?
Increasing over grades. Higher for women in EO, HEO, AP
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Overall CO SO EO HEO AO AP >=PO
Male Female
Levels of perceived promotion opportunities (0-10 scale)

Lack of flexible working arrangements
Women overrepresented in this form of working arrangement
Gender differences even more striking for part-time
Senior positions do not give access to/are incompatible with
flexible working arrangements
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
CO SO EO HEO AO AP PO ASEC/SEC Total
Male Female Total
Share of staff with a shorter working year arrangement

A Study of Gender and Senior Positions in the Irish Civil Service

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