Upon receipt of a grant from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Research Unit of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College Dublin undertook a study of women and ambition in the workplace of the Irish Civil Service. The objective of the study was to analyse the barriers and facilitators to the career ambitions of women. We were interested in finding out if women were as ambitious as men or if structural barriers had caused them to downsize their ambition. The findings of some researchers in the US had found that professional women were leaving the workplace in significant numbers, that the workplace had indeed failed these women. Our aim was to ascertain if the same was true for women in the Irish Civil Service. We began our study with a pilot project which focused on the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The pilot employed the methodology which we would subsequently use in our main study. It was undertaken between September and November, 2007. The purpose of the pilot was to test the research strategy and methodology as well as to highlight any theoretical and/or practical problems which may have implications for the main study. Following completion of the pilot, the methodology for the study was finalised and fieldwork began in December, 2007. The study encompassed a two strand methodology using both quantitative and qualitative tools of research. Via an online survey, we evaluated the opinions and assessments of both men and women employed in the management grades (Higher Executive Officer and above) across 15 Civil Service Departments. Simultaneously, we conducted in depth interviews with a sub sample of both male and female employees from two selected Departments within the Civil Service. The qualitative component of the study also incorporated comparative data yielded from a small scale study conducted among junior, middle and senior male and female managers employed in a leading financial institution in Ireland. The fieldwork for the Civil Service study was completed by February, 2008. A total of 2,237 valid responses were collected from the online survey, yielding a total valid response rate of 40%. In January 2008, we conducted a total of 26 interviews with employees in the selected management grades from two Civil Service Departments chosen in consultation with the sponsoring body. Supplementary fieldwork among management in a leading financial institution was completed by July, 2008. Interviews were conducted with 10 employees from junior, middle and senior management. The literature review for this project revealed few surprises. Women were working in increased numbers in Ireland and in the EU but the higher the management level, the fewer women that were evident. What was of particular interest, however, was the fact that companies with women at senior decision-making levels outperformed those with lower numbers or no women. This makes the economic case for the increased inclusion of women at the highest level of management. The literature review also identified three main subject areas relevant to this project: 1) the nature and definition of women’s ambition; 2) structural inequalities; and 3) socialisation. All three areas have implications for women’s ambition in the workplace. One of the most startling of our findings concerned the demographic profile of Civil Service employees. According to our analysis of the weighted survey respondents, male and female employees are distributed unevenly across the management grades. Senior male managers outnumber their female colleagues by 56% while in junior management women outnumber men by 2%. When we look at marital status and number of children, the results are even starker. The likelihood of female employees being married diminishes as they rise up the management grades. Among the senior management male employees, 86% are married. This is compared with 56% of female senior managers. When we examined parental status, we found that of the male employees, 66% had children compared with 35% of the women. If we put this in terms of management grade, particularly senior management, we find that there are very significant discrepancies between percentages of senior male managers who are married and who have children compared to their female counterparts. In total 86% of male senior managers are married and 86% have children. In comparison 56% of female senior managers are married and 53% have children. It would appear from this analysis that women may be prepared to make sacrifices in their personal life in order to reach senior management grades. It seems that these sacrifices are not made nearly as frequently by their male colleagues.