NCI Blog

This article continues our International Women’s Day series.

In Part Two, NCI’s PR & Events Executive, Kate O’Brien shifts the focus from history to the present day, and to what access, leadership, and opportunity look like for women now and into the future.

Women’s evolving roles in education and the workplace

If we jump ahead to 2007/2008, statistics from the Higher Education Authority show that more women than men were attending college. By the academic year 2018/2019, there was an increase in women entering male-dominated fields, however, the number of men entering female-dominated fields does not notably change.

In the academic year of 2024/2025, 55% of students enrolled in third-level education were women. Current figures suggest that there are more women than men studying areas such as education and health and welfare, while men continue to dominate in areas such as manufacturing, construction, engineering, and information and communication technologies. We can see that women are consistently engaging with third-level education, but some subjects, particularly education and early years education, remain gendered.

NCI has been educating women for professional roles since the 1950s, so we can see that women have long been ambitious, engaged in study, and actively pursuing work opportunities.

Notable figures

According to the Central Statistics Office:

• The number of women in employment has more than doubled since 1998.

• In Q4 of 2024, 41.9% of women accounted for full-time employment, and 67.3% of women accounted for part-time employment.

• More than 6 in 10 women have a third-level degree.

• In the past 5 years, the proportion of women among top 1% of earners has increased by 5 percentage points arriving at 26.4% in 2023.

These figures demonstrate that women are not only participating in the workforce in greater numbers, but they are also achieving higher education credentials and progressing into senior roles at a notable pace.

Expanding access at NCI

Diversity improves innovation and decision-making. Acknowledging and understanding how spaces can and will remain gendered if proper representation is not addressed is a key talking point. National College of Ireland encourages women into areas such as computing, business leadership, and STEM – areas that are often male dominated – and actively works to create opportunities that empower women to explore these subjects.

One example is the TY coding club for girls. In 2024, 26 girls registered, and in 2025, that number rose to 33, showing a positive trend in engagement. The College also runs a senior coding club and in 2025, almost half of the 80 participants were women. NCI has hosted the Dublin NASA Space Apps Challenge for several years, and in 2025, 1 in 4 of the participants were women, which is higher than average. Initiatives like these aim to continue increasing participation.

Access efforts are not one-way. Just as the College supports women entering STEM, it also encourages men into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), recognising that gender equality goes both ways.

NCI places a strong emphasis on creating a warm, welcoming environment for all students and staff, challenging gendered assumptions and opening conversations about who can pursue which paths.

Attitudes around access

We learn from each other, but we only learn from each other if everyone gets to be heard. To ensure that women’s voices are included in decision-making, it is important that women are represented in roles where key decisions are made, and that process starts with education.

If we want more women involved in STEM decision-making, then STEM must be presented as a viable option for girls from a young age. When a girl is told in primary school that STEM or business leadership is not for her, she may lose interest or the confidence to pursue it long before she reaches college. In that moment, access to opportunity has already been narrowed.

Everyone has a unique viewpoint shaped by personal experiences, and we need those insights to make informed and inclusive decisions. Ensuring that discussions are broad in education and leadership is ultimately beneficial for everyone.

The road to leadership

Alongside making sure that all students feel supported in their studies and working towards their goals, the College recognises the importance of women being visible leaders in higher education so there are several initiatives in place that offer staff opportunities to upskill, challenge themselves, and apply their expertise in new ways.

Just one example of this is the Aurora Leadership Development Programme. Aurora is the Advance HE's leadership development initiative for women delivered through a partnership between leadership experts, higher education providers, and research institutes to take positive action to address the under-representation of women in leadership positions across the sector.

Aurora supports women to aspire and achieve leadership positions within higher education. Participants work with a mentor during the programme focusing on self-development, confidence, and personal goals. Through self-reflection, women build themselves up while building each other up, which demonstrates how programmes like this do not just benefit one but benefit all, forming lasting connections alongside professional development.

Other initiatives at National College of Ireland include the 30% Club Scholarship which encourages women to study computing and STEM. The College is also committed to workplace policies that support everyone such as flexible working arrangements, parental supports, and transparent pay gap reporting.

Aspiring women inspire all

There are many ways to learn and having a range of options available is key. People need to be able to discover the path that is right for them and that cannot happen if there is only one path. At NCI, we want to offer as many options as possible so that everyone can thrive personally, professionally, and academically.

Leadership is not linear; everyone has the potential to be a leader in some capacity. You may not be the manager of your team, but there are moments where everyone can utilise their skills and take ownership of certain areas.

Looking back through time, this International Women’s Day highlights only some of the obstacles that kept women restricted from fulfilling their own ambitions. As a twenty-six-year-old in 2026, imagining having to consider resigning once I get married seems absurd and deeply unfair, yet that was the reality for so many women.

Younger women today, myself included, benefit from all the progress that has been made throughout history. My experiences are vastly different to those of women in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and arguably, are much more positive. However, I do believe there is still a way to go in terms of societal attitudes. Even as society continues to progress, it is often women who face questions that men do not around how they will balance childcare and work, or assumptions about their roles in the workplace.

Caring professions, teaching – especially primary teaching – are still largely pushed towards women and it can be concerning to see very conservative conversations elsewhere in the world suggesting that women should not be ambitious in their careers. I don't see anyone trying to stop women choosing motherhood over career, only efforts to argue that it must be one or the other. I believe the reality is that women can choose either, both, or neither, just as men can choose fatherhood over career, or that any kind of family unit is possible and together they may share caring and earning duties.

I have always believed that it is important to celebrate and admire the women of the past because many of them might have made different decisions if their options weren’t so narrow.

International Women’s Day can sometimes be met with criticism, and at times it can feel performative, if support only appears for one day. That is not the case here at National College of Ireland. Instead, International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to spotlight the initiatives and conversations that are ongoing throughout the year, around women in education and the workplace.

As we can see from this journey down memory lane, pathways to education for women and attitudes around access and women in leadership have been continuously evolving and will continue to do so. As NCI looks ahead to the next 75 years, it is highly rewarding to reflect on the progress made so far and to celebrate the work that has improved access for so many.

Did you read Part One in our series? Evolving Access: A Look Back at NCI’s Role in Women’s Education, looking at how pathways to education for women were shaped, restricted, and gradually expanded over time.