Women Take Lead In Civil Service Jobs

Women are more numerous than their male colleagues in the civil service, new data has reported - although in counterpoint they are more likely to be in lower grades than men.

Catholics workers are also now being employed in almost equal proportion with Protestant colleagues according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) data just published.

The report showing a 'snapshot' of the composition of the NI Civil Service (NICS) was taken in January this year, with the report including trend data, analysis of recruitment competitions, and resignation and retirement rates.

The key findings include that the composition of the NICS was 48% male, 52% female, and (excluding those whose community background was 'Not Determined') 51% Protestant, 49% Catholic.

The proportion of staff who were from minority ethnic groups was 0.2% and the proportion of staff who had declared a disability was 5%.

However, in general, the more senior the level of the job the lower the representation of females - which would appear to indicate that females fill more of the lower grade positions than male colleagues.

A similar pattern was evident, but less marked, in the case of community background, with the proportion of staff who were Catholic being highest in the most junior grades and lowest in the most senior grades.

The past decade has seen a rise of four percentage points in female representation, from 48% to 52%.

The greatest increase was in the management grades, particularly the senior management grades where female representation almost trebled (from 11% to 31%).

The past decade has seen Catholic representation rise, and Protestant representation fall, by seven percentage points.

The largest changes have occurred in the higher management grades (18 percentage points at Grades 6/7 and 16 percentage points at Grade 5 and above).

(BMcC/GK)