The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) is calling on radio stations to give more airtime to female voices.

In a study of flagship programmes on Newstalk, Today FM and RTÉ Radio One, it has found that 72% of guests and presenters were men.

The study took place across three weeks in the second half of 2014.

The 'Hearing Women's Voices?' study was carried out by the NWCI and Dublin City University.

It revealed that the overall breakdown of voices was 28% female and 72% male across the three radio stations - 63% on RTÉ Radio, 82% on Newstalk and 70% on Today FM.

It found women also tended to get shorter airtime when on, and the majority of guests and experts were male across all stations.

Males made-up 75-80% of news subjects on RTÉ Radio, while male voices also dominated discussions of a range of topics including politics, economics (76% male RTÉ Radio 1, 83% Newstalk) and sports (75% male on RTÉ Radio 1, 95% male on Newstalk).

Dr Jane Suiter from Dublin City University, and co-author of the report, said: "All the stations have made progress since the first examinations of female voices were conducted".

"However, there is still significant scope to hear more female reporters on air on all stations, especially to have some female lead presenters during the week on both Newstalk and Today FM".

Orla O'Connor is the director of the  NWCI. She told Newstalk Lunchtime stations should be more proactive.