Minister Foley welcomes Ireland moving up 3 places to 6th in EU Gender Equality Rankings
- Published on: 16 January 2026
- Last updated on: 16 January 2026
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley today welcomed the significant improvement in Ireland’s ranking within the EU on gender equality.
Ireland now ranks 6th in the EU in the 2025 Gender Equality Index published by the European Institute for Gender Equality. This is three places ahead of its ranking of 9th in the 2024 Gender Equality Index.
Commenting on the new Gender Equality Index scores, Minister Foley said:
“It is good to see Ireland’s progress on gender equality in recent years reflected in our higher ranking in the EU Gender Equality Index. It shows that Ireland is becoming a leader on equality for women and girls. While we can rightly celebrate our successes, we must also acknowledge the work that still needs to be done. We will continue to work through our new National Strategy for Women and Girls to ensure that women can fully participate and lead in all areas of life.”
The 2025 Gender Equality Index report notes that Malta, Ireland and Lithuania have made most headway in gender equality in the EU since 2020.
The Gender Equality Index is a key tool in monitoring progress towards gender equality in the EU. Published annually by EIGE, the Gender Equality Index measures gaps between women and men in six key areas – work, money, knowledge, time, power and health. The Index also looks at two cross-cutting domains that affect all others – violence against women and intersecting inequalities.
Ireland now scores 69.0 points out of 100 in the 2025 Gender Equality Index. With an average score of 63.4 across the EU, Ireland excels in many measures of success. Ireland achieved its highest rank in the areas of knowledge and health and now ranks 1st in the EU for both of these.
Further achievements include:
- Increased employment rates for both genders.
- Horizontal and vertical segregations in labour have decreased.
- Significant increases in the number of third-level graduates.
The National Strategy for Women and Girls 2025-2030 recently launched by Minister Foley sets out the Government’s commitment to advance gender equality over the next five years. The actions coming out of the Strategy will aim to ensure that women and girls continue to enjoy equality in Ireland and that progress can be reflected in continued strong performance in the Gender Equality Index.
Gender Equality Index
The EU Gender Equality Index is a tool used to evaluate and compare progress towards gender equality across the EU. The Index gives Member States a score from 1 to 100, higher scores being better.
The index is composed of indicators of violence, health, work, money, knowledge, power, and time. In 2025, the Index underwent a comprehensive review to strengthen its alignment with current EU policy priorities, integrate new data and update its methodology.
The Gender Equality Index 2025 can be accessed here
European Institute for Gender Equality
European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is an EU agency which produces independent research and shares best practice to promote gender equality. As a member state, Ireland regularly collaborates with EIGE for events and projects.
EIGE is the EU’s knowledge centre on Gender Equality. By providing reliable and policy-oriented data and information, it supports the EU and its Member States to strengthen the promotion of gender equality.
National Strategy for Women and Girls 2025-2030
The National Strategy for Women and Girls 2025-2030 is a Whole-of-Government framework for action to advance gender equality across all areas of public policy.
The Strategy was developed in consultation with civil society stakeholders and was informed by the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality. It also reflects the recommendations to Ireland of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and it is aligned with the EU Roadmap for Women’s Rights.
Implementation of the Strategy will be guided by two Action Plans, the first of which will be adopted by Government in early 2026 and will cover the period 2026-2028.