A new survey examining a city's ability to attract and foster growth of women-owned firms has found Dublin at 34th out of 50.
This sees us ahead of other cities like Milan, Belfast, Istanbul and Tokyo.
New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, London, Boston and Stockholm are the top-five cities in the Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index.
According to the data, when impediments to female entrepreneurship are removed there is a dramatic uplift in a city’s economic prospects.
"Dublin’s notable strengths include status as the Digital Capital of Europe, generous maternity leave policy, high quality education and accessibility to technology training, with areas for improvement including high cost of living and childcare", it says.
Ireland offers 26 weeks maternity leave at a minimum pay of €235 per week paid by the State, with up to 16 additional unpaid weeks of leave available.
However employers can supplement this amount at their discretion.
But it cautions that: "Dublin’s high cost of living contributes to its ranking as No 50... This high cost of living puts added pressure on low wage workers many of whom are women."
Karen Quintos, chief customer officer at Dell, says: "Globally, women’s entrepreneurship rates are growing more than 10% each year.
"In fact, women are as likely or more likely than men to start businesses in many markets.
"However, financial, cultural and political barriers can limit the success of these businesses.
"By arming city leaders and policymakers with data-driven research and clear calls to action, we can collectively improve the landscape for high-potential women entrepreneurs, which in turn dramatically lifts a city’s economic prospects - as what is good for women is good for the economy."
Top 50 WE Cities Ranking & Methodology
Cities were ranked on five characteristics: capital, technology, talent, culture and markets.
The overall rating is based on 72 indicators; 45 of these, nearly two-thirds, have a gender-based component.
The 50 cities were ranked as follows:
New York City
Bay Area
London
Boston
Stockholm
Los Angeles
Washington, D.C.
Singapore
Toronto
Seattle
Sydney
Paris
Chicago
Minneapolis
Austin
Hong Kong
Melbourne
Atlanta
Amsterdam
Portland (OR)
Berlin
Taipei
Pittsburg
Tel Aviv
Copenhagen
Vancouver
Houston
Johannesburg
Barcelona
Seoul
Munich
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
Nairobi
Dublin
Warsaw
Belfast
Milan
Beijing
Tokyo
Bangalore
Kuala Lumpur
Sao Paulo
Dubai
Shanghai
Mexico City
Lima
Guadalajara
Istanbul
Delhi
Jakarta
In the top 10 cities overall, six are in the US, two are in Europe, one is in Canada and one is in Asia.
41 of the cities in this index are in the top five for at least one pillar or sub-category; 34 of the cities are in the bottom five for at least one of the pillars or sub-categories – demonstrating the competitiveness of these 50 cities
Of the cities in the top 10 cities overall, only New York City and Washington, D.C. rank in the bottom five on any pillar or sub-category (New York City for cost of Market access and New York City and Washington, D.C. for cost of Technology)
Of the top 10 cities overall, only the Bay Area and New York ranks in the top 10 across all 5 pillars
Dell says the 2016 and 2017 studies differ in several ways - including the total number of cities and number of indicators.
It says given the new elements to the ranking, scores should not be compared year-over-year.
