Ireland has scored well in a worldwide index of women's involvement in politics but only because it has had a female president for so much of the recent past.
The latest gender index from the World Economic Forum has ranked the Republic eighth in the world in terms of women's political empowerment, but we scored poorly in two of the three sub-categories that made up the overall score.
In its analysis of women's representation in parliament, the forum found Ireland ranked 74th out of the 128 countries examined. Just 22 of the 166 seats in the current Dáil are held by women.
When it came to the number of women holding ministerial positions, Ireland moved up the table, to 28th in the world. There are three women ministers in the Cabinet: Mary Harney, Mary Coughlan and Mary Hanafin.
The third category examined by the index ranked countries according to how many years they had a woman head of state during the past 50 years. Ireland ranked second, thanks to the presidencies of Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson.
Between them they have occupied the presidency for 17 years.
When the three sub-categories were put together to assess the State's overall "political empowerment" rating, the Republic ranked eighth in the world.
Political empowerment made up just one of the four main categories examined by the index, which ranked Ireland ninth overall, one position higher than the ranking achieved in 2006.
On economic participation and opportunity, the State ranked 48th in the world for gender equality, with the scoring in the income equality sub-category being particularly bad.
Irish women earn an average of $26,160 (€17,806) a year, compared to men who earn $51,633 (€35,144), according to the index. In the "wage equality for similar work" category, Ireland was ranked 41st in the world.
However, when it came to educational attainment by women, the State fared much better, sharing first place with seven other countries. On education the Republic ranked joint first, while in health and survival Ireland ranked 80th in the world, though with a score that was very close to the world average.
The most equal states in terms of gender were found to be Sweden, Norway and Finland, while the least equal were Pakistan, Chad and, worst of all, Yemen.
