Addressing the gender pay gap: Government and social partner actions – Ireland
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This report examines the gender pay gap in Ireland as of September 2009, and actions and policies by the Government and the social partners to address the gap. It is suggested that various policies to address the gender pay gap are under threat due to the scale of the Irish recession.
1. The gender pay gap: national data
1.1. Please provide the reference details (see fact-sheet below), including a brief summary, of the main studies and research on the size and the determinants of the gender pay gap in your country published in the period 1999-2009.
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no. 1 |
|---|---|
| Title | Women and men in Ireland |
| Authors | Central Statistics Office (CSO) |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Bibliographic references | |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/other_releases/2008/womenandmen2008.pdf |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | Nationwide |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 2006 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | National official quantitative survey. The CSO is Ireland’s main compiler of statistics on a wide range of economic and social issues. |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | Women’s income in 2006 was around two-thirds of men’s income. In 2006, men aged between 15 and 84 years had an average income of €32,338, while the average income for women was €21,802 or 67.4% of men’s income. |
| Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | When the above figures are adjusted to take account of the average hours per week spent in paid employment by men and women in 2006, women’s average hourly income was around 86% of men’s in 2006. |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | Working hours. See above. |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | Not included in CSO survey. See ESRI study below. |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | Not included in CSO survey. See ESRI and IBEC study in 1.2 below. |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary | Not included in CSO survey. See ESRI study below. |
* Female pay as a percentage of male pay.
** The Gender Pay Gap (GPG) represents the difference between male and female earnings as a percentage of male earnings
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no. 2 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Gender Wage Gap in Ireland: Evidence from the National Employment Survey 2003 |
| Authors | Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Equality Authority |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Bibliographic references | |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | http://www.esri.ie/UserFiles/publications/20090911101000/BKMNEXT141.pdf |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | Nationwide |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 2003 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | National official quantitative employment survey. |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | The unadjusted or ‘raw’ gap** between men's and women's hourly wages is estimated to be about 22 per cent for all employees. |
| Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | The adjusted (or unexplained) wage gap** was close to 8 per cent. |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | The study examined observable characteristics between men and women, notably different levels of education and labour market experience, job and firm characteristics, etc. |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | Higher trade union membership among men widened the gap. Centralised wage bargaining, specifically the implementation of the national wage agreement, benefited women within both the full-time and part-time labour markets. The study found that the existence of some family-friendly policies within firms, specifically career-breaks, helped to reduce the gender wage gap. |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | The difference in the labour market experience levels of men and women - which widened the adjusted gap by 3 percentage points, equivalent to 14 per cent of the unadjusted gap - was the largest single influence in explaining the gender wage gap. |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary | In terms of policy implications, this research provides evidence that expanding the availability of career-breaks for full-time females would improve their relative pay. The research also demonstrates that social partnership arrangements, through the implementation of the national wage agreement, have helped to standardise wages both within and across firms and sectors, and this in turn has improved the relative position of women across all labour markets. |
* Female pay as a percentage of male pay.
**The Gender Pay Gap (GPG) represents the difference between male and female earnings as a percentage of male earnings
1.2. Are there any studies published in the 1999-2009 period, possibly using qualitative methods, which investigate the social processes which contribute to determining the gender pay gap through selection, occupational segregation, discrimination, and the like? Is there any research on the development of pay gaps during the life course? Do pay gaps emerge at the beginning of the individual careers of women or do they become significant at later stages of professional development? Because of different gendered career paths or because pay gaps tend to increase as the professional career advances (i.e. higher gaps at higher organisation positions)?
In September 2009, the Equality Authority and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) launched the report described above in factsheet 2: The Gender Wage Gap in Ireland: Evidence from the National Employment Survey 2003. It would seem to offer the most accurate and comprehensive assessment of the gender pay gap in Ireland. The research uses data with unique information on both employee and employer characteristics to assess the size and nature of the gender pay gap in Ireland. The dataset used in the report - the 2003 National Employment Survey (NES) - enabled the authors to identify:
- the size of the gender pay gap for all employees
- the nature of the gap in the full-time and part-time labour markets
- the importance of various policy-related factors, such as collective bargaining and family friendly policies, on the wage gap
- the factors that contributed to the gender pay gap within both occupations and industries.
The key findings are:
The unadjusted, observed or ‘raw’ gap between men's and women's hourly wages was about 22 per cent for all employees. These are the types of statistics that are most commonly and regularly available on the gender pay gap. However, about two-thirds of the observed gap was due to differences in observable characteristics between men and women, notably different levels of education and labour market experience, job and firm characteristics, etc. When account is taken of such factors, the remaining adjusted (or unexplained) wage gap was close to 8 per cent.
For full-time employees, the unadjusted gap was about 18 per cent and the adjusted gap was just under 7 per cent. For part-time employees, the unadjusted wage gap was around 6 per cent, but the adjusted gap was higher, at 10 per cent. This suggests that part-time female workers are on the whole more qualified and experienced than their male counterparts. The difference in the labour market experience levels of men and women - which widened the gap by 3 percentage points, equivalent to 14 per cent of the raw gap - was the largest single influence in explaining the gender wage gap. Higher levels of educational attainment among women did help to reduce the wage gap, but this factor alone was not sufficient to compensate for the effects of labour market experience on the gap. Many other factors - such as a higher incidence of supervisory responsibility, longer tenure and higher trade union membership among men, and a higher incidence of part-time work among women - also widened the gap. Centralised wage bargaining, specifically the implementation of the national wage agreement, benefited women within both the full-time and part-time labour markets. The study found that the existence of some family-friendly policies within firms, specifically career-breaks, helped to reduce the gender wage gap. However, this result was only evident within the full-time labour market. Working flexitime had a neutral impact on the pay gap, while the greater concentration of women in part-time work, the most common form of flexible employment, was found to widen the gender wage gap by almost 2 percentage points.
In relation to the occupational analysis, the authors found that the unadjusted wage gaps across the eight occupations examined were broadly similar. However, much larger variations occurred in terms of the adjusted gap, which reflected substantial differences in the role of observable characteristics (e.g. education, experience, family structure and organisational) across occupations. The adjusted wage gap varied from about 2 per cent in clerical occupations to 21 per cent for plant and machine operatives. Regarding the sectoral analysis, the raw gender wage gap was widely distributed, ranging from 13 per cent in the hotel sector to 46 per cent in the education sector. The adjusted wage gap was somewhat more uniformly distributed: ranging from under 1 per cent in the transport and communications sector to 20 per cent in construction.
In terms of policy implications, this research provides evidence that expanding the availability of career-breaks for full-time females would improve their relative pay. The research also demonstrates that social partnership arrangements, through the implementation of the national wage agreement, have helped to standardise wages both within and across firms and sectors, and this in turn has improved the relative position of women across all labour markets.
1.3. Are there any studies in your country on how gender differentials of pay have been affected by the current economic crisis?
As of September 2009, it is still too early to definitively assess the impact of Ireland’s recession on gender pay differentials. However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held a seminar for women trade unionists in Belfast in March 2009 – entitled ‘Women and the Recession’. http://www.ictu.ie/equality/gender.html
About 180 women trade unionists from across the whole island attended the seminar, which considered the likely effects of the recession on women and how trade unionists could promote a gender perspective in their response to the challenging economic scenario. It was noted at the ICTU seminar that it was too early to assess the longer-term impact of the recession, but that there was evidence to suggest that women were likely to suffer negative impacts, particularly those in low-paid non-unionised workplaces, those who were single parents and those with caring responsibilities. Particular issues highlighted in relation to the impact of the recession in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland included:
- Cuts to the budgets of Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission;
- Whilst women in Ireland have been losing their jobs at a slower rate than men, January and February 2009 had seen an 8% increase in the female unemployment rate;
- A 20% increase in enquiries to the Equality Commission for January and February 2009 compared to the previous period in 2008;
- The potential for cuts/taxes or means testing of child benefit;
- A recent report published by the Fawcett Society provides evidence that women are more likely to bear the burden of the recession – women are more likely to act as the shock absorbers in dealing with the recession.
2. Government initiatives to address the gender pay gap
2.1. In light of the current economic crisis, has the national government taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Has the government started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
Yes. In August 2009, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform published a Progress Report prepared by its Gender Equality Division in collaboration with the National Women's Strategy Inter-Departmental Committee and the State Agencies which together deliver the broad range of actions encompassed in the Strategy (see 2.2 below for details). The Report gives an overview of progress made in implementing the objectives contained in the National Women's Strategy, since its launch in April 2007 to the end of 2008:
Implementing the National Womens Strategy 2007-2016, Progress 2007/2008 (PDF - 537KB)
The report concludes that as a result of the decrease in women at work since the onset of recession, Ireland has again fallen below the Lisbon target of 60 per cent for female labour market participation. The report suggests that a revision in statistical methodology has led to changes in the statistics published by the EU on the gender pay gap. As a result the unadjusted gender pay gap for Ireland is now 17.1 per cent, very close to the EU average. It is stated that gender segregation is regarded as a key determinant of the gender pay gap and that Central Statistics Office (CSO) published figures show that women still predominate in a number of sectors – including the less-well remunerated clerical and secretarial; personal and protective services and sales sectors. The advancement of women into decision-making roles is another key recommendation towards the achievement of de facto gender equality. Decision-making roles exist in many fields of life, including in the workplace. CSO statistics show that the number of women managers and administrators grew by almost 6,000 between the end of 2007 and the end of 2008, while the numbers of women in professional positions2 increased by almost 12,000.
Aside from this gender equality progress report, there have been no concrete policy initiatives by the Government to address a possible widening of the gender wage gap due to recession. In fact, Government policy is oriented towards spending cuts – for instance, it controversially cut the budget of the Equality Authority, leading to the resignation of its Chief Executive.
2.2. Please illustrate the major government initiatives to address the gender pay gap put in place since 2005. Since there is extensive legislation on gender equality, interventions are usually of an indirect nature.
The Department of Equality, Justice and Law Reform has a specialist Gender Equality Division:
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Gender_equality
The Gender Equality Division has responsibility for: fostering the achievement of true equality between women and men in Ireland; implementing specific commitments in the Programme for Government on gender equality; monitoring national and international commitments on gender equality; reporting on gender equality issues for which other Government departments and State agencies are responsible.
More generally, Government policy in this area includes: the provision of a legal framework that provides for equal treatment of women and men; the National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016, which is the Government’s statement of priorities in relation to the advancement of women in Irish society (see below); and a programme of positive action measures, including the Equality for Women Measure 2008-2013, to enhance women’s skills and to foster their engagement in areas of Irish society and decision-making where they are under-represented.
The Government, under the leadership of the Department of Equality, Justice and Law Reform, with input by the social partners, launched the ‘National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016’ in 2007: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/National_Womens_Strategy.
The National Women’s Strategy is the Government’s statement of priorities in relation to the advancement of women in Irish society for the period 2007 to 2016, including reducing the gender pay gap. It contains 20 Key Objectives and over 200 planned actions. These objectives and actions have been clustered together under the three key themes of: equalising socio-economic opportunity for women; ensuring the wellbeing of women; and engaging as equal and active citizens.
Also, under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, provision has been made for a specific positive action measure to promote gender equality. The ‘Equality for Women Measure 2008-2013’ has been designed to build on the achievements of its predecessor, the Equality for Women Measure 2000-2007. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has overall responsibility, and the Equality for Women Measure is due to be delivered in two phases: 2008 to mid-2011 and from mid-2011 to the end of 2013. Its aims and objectives link closely with those of the National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016. It is expected that Phase I of the Equality for Women Measure will have four separate strands: Access to Employment, Developing Female Entrepreneurship, Career Development for Women in Employment, Fostering Women as Decision Makers. Strand I, Access to Employment, was launched in Dublin on 27 May, 2008 by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Access to Employment strand aims to provide women who are currently outside the labour market with the social skills, and/or education, and/or training to enable them to enter or return to the labour market.
Many Government related initiatives in this area since 2005 also come under the scope of multi-employer collective bargaining/national social partnership agreements, and are detailed in 3.4 below. These include further exploring, with the social partners, the causes of the gender pay gap in order to reduce it further. The Government has also focused on fiscal policies or income support measures targeted at low-paid jobs where female employment is particularly high – increases in the national minimum wage and changes in the tax system to take the low paid out of the tax net have been viewed as important means of reducing the gender wage gap.
However, Ireland’s serious recession could jeopardize some of these various policy initiatives addressing the gender pay gap.
2.3. Please illustrate the main initiatives by the government to address the gender pay gap since 2005 in the public sector. Here the government acts as the employer and can intervene more directly, even if often the rules on compensation leave less room for pay differentials.
The Government is committed in the Programme for Government to achieving a minimum of 40 per cent representation of women on State boards. The following are the key gender statistics in relation to membership of State boards serving on 31 December, 2007:
Total number of State boards included = 278
Total number of positions on these State boards = 3,804
Total number of female members on these State boards = 1,293
The number of female chairpersons stands at 44 (or 17 per cent) in 2007.
Participation rate for women on these State Boards = 34 per cent
During 2007, 1,082 appointments were made to State boards. This included 386 women, representing almost 36 percent of new appointments.
Again, many public sector initiatives in this area also come under the scope of multi-employer collective bargaining/national social partnership agreements. For instance, under the Sustaining Progress national pact (2003-2005), there is a section on mainstreaming equality in the public sector as follows:
Proofing of policies and services in the public sector to avoid unanticipated negative impact on any of the groups protected under the equality legislation, to ensure policy coherence and best use of resources, will build on the experience of gender-proofing under the National Development Plan, the Working Group on Equality Proofing and experience of poverty-proofing. Gender mainstreaming will continue to be progressed through the work of the NDP Gender Equality Unit in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Equality for Women Measure and implementation in other policy areas.
3. Social partner initiatives to address the gender pay gap
3.1. In light of the current economic crisis, have the social partners, whether unilaterally or jointly, taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Have the social partners started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
Yes. See 1.2 above. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held a special conference in March 2009 examining the impact of the recession on women. The following action points/ideas were proposed by union delegates at the conference – in relation to defending gender equality and workers rights in recessionary times:
- Employers should be offering reduced hours and job shares as alternatives to redundancies;
- There should be more access to e-working /home working to assist with work-life balance;
- To provide effective leadership the unions need to hold the ground against marginalisation – we need effective networking among unions;
- An agreed and proactive line on social policy with a focus on provision of childcare;
- We need to equality proof the impact of the recession and base strategy on robust evidence;
- Vigorously oppose and campaign against cuts in the Equality Authority (ROI);
- Need to direct attention at areas where women dominate and organise in low paid sectors;
- A comprehensive union movement-wide political education programme to empower younger members;
3.2. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the trade union agenda since 2005. Have the trade unions initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
Yes. The gender pay gap has figured prominently on the trade union agenda in Ireland since 2005. In recent years, the trade union movement, or at least sections of the movement, have paid increased interest to gender issues; particularly as women now form a growing proportion of total union membership (approximately 44%). The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), and a number of its individual union affiliates, have appointed specialist equality officers to promote gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and address gender segregation – both within unions and externally.
The ICTU has also compiled a training programme on promoting equality, which aims to assist its affiliated trade unions to build the skills of officials and activists in relation to equality in employment. The union training programme covers a wide range of issues relevant to combating discrimination in the workplace, along with advice on how to negotiate improvements to equal opportunity policies, and take cases to the Equality Tribunal.
Some unions affiliated to ICTU have also commenced organising efforts targeted at low paid occupations where female employment is particularly high. For instance, the retail union, Mandate (which mainly represents (women) workers in shops and bars), launched an organising campaign in 2008. Mandate announced major changes in its operational structure, with the union changing its operating model from a ‘servicing’ model to an ‘organising and campaigning’ model. It said it would be embarking on a major campaign to organise and recruit workers in the non-union retail sector.
3.3. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the employer associations agenda since 2005. Have the main employer associations initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
The general position of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) is that the biggest single cause of the gender gap is that women’s labour market experience and participation is often less than that of men. A key issue that arises from this is the need to eliminate any barriers to female participation in the formal workforce during the child-bearing and child-rearing years. To this end, IBEC calls for initiatives that promote the supply of childcare and family-friendly provisions. The implication is that these initiatives could help to reduce the gender gap.
However, IBEC does not appear to agree with going as far as implementing widescale gender mainstreaming – i.e. the integration of a gender perspective into all general policies and measures. For instance, in a document entitled, ‘Social Policy in a Competitive Economy’, IBEC states that it does not believe that artificial or arbitrary quotas are appropriate or effective measures to achieve systematic change.
In short, a key area where the social partners would differ is over whether individual employers should be legally obliged to implement positive action and equality action plans at the workplace. While the unions would like to see a legal obligation placed on employers to introduce equality plans, employers want such plans to remain voluntary.
3.4. Please indicate whether multi-employer collective bargaining has contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has multi-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
Yes. Multi-employer collective bargaining in Ireland contains specific clauses to address the gender pay gap. Many of the measures on the addressing the gender pay gap in Ireland contained in multi-employer national collective bargaining agreements predate 2005 (see 2007 EIRO CAR on gender and career development: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn0612019s/ie0612019q.htm). The Towards 2016 national agreement, which was concluded in September 2006, carries forward these various initiatives. Key priority actions in Towards 2016 (T2016) relating to gender equality include:
Implementing policies to increase employment levels with the goal of exceeding the EU Lisbon employment rate targets for 2010 of 70% overall, 60% for females and 50% for older workers; further support linked, as appropriate, to the forthcoming National Development Plan for innovative actions building upon the achievements of the NDP Equality for Women Measure. This will also link with the gender equality focused initiatives to be developed under the National Women's Strategy; focusing on actions by the social partners to encourage greater numbers of women to advance to the higher levels within their chosen careers through training and cost effective reviews of equality policies within organisations; further exploring the causes of the gender pay gap in order to reduce it further; collecting data to support policies for the promotion of equality of opportunity across the nine grounds covered by equality legislation.
There are also specific commitments to the continuation and development of the National Framework Committee for Equal Opportunities at the level of the Enterprise:
‘The parties are agreed that the National Framework Committee for Equal Opportunities at the level of the Enterprise will continue its work in developing and disseminating practical supports for the equal opportunities workplace, supporting individual projects and engaging with cost effective equality planning and equality reviews’.
3.5. Please indicate whether single-employer collective bargaining and social dialogue practices at company level have contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has single-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap at company level? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
The gender pay gap is not a very common subject of single-employer collective bargaining at company level in Ireland. There are some exceptions, however. See 4.1 below for the public sector company-level collective bargaining initiative involving Dublin Bus, An Post and Irish Rail.
3.6. Has the issue of the gender pay gap been particularly important in certain sectors? If yes, please indicate the sectors involved (up to three), the main reasons of such relevance and its most significant expressions and achievements (up to three for each sector - unilateral actions by employers or unions, joint initiatives, collective bargaining).
Yes.
In late 2002, Indecon Consultants published a study of the gender pay gap at sectoral level in Ireland. The study investigated the gender wage gap within four specific sectors of the economy: IT, electrical/electronics; retail; food, local government:
Study of the Gender Pay Gap at Sectoral Level in Ireland (PDF – 8.4MB)
In terms of sectoral findings in the Indecon study, a gender pay gap was evident in the retail sector, for instance. The report concludes that survey data provides evidence that male employees earn more on average than female employees in the retail sector; the retail sector is heavily female dominated; the incidence of part-time working is substantially higher among females in the retail sector (45.6% in 2001 versus 16.8% among male employees); an analysis of occupational breakdown of employment reveals a substantially lower proportion of females in managerial/administrative positions in the retail sector.
At the end of their report, Indecon outline various recommendations to address the gender pay gap at sectoral level across the sectors under review.
4. Good practices
4.1. Since 2005, have there been any major initiatives to identify, collect and disseminate good practices on equal pay or more generally on gender equality in employment?
An interesting good practice example of a company-level gender initiative, funded under the National Framework Committee for Equal Opportunities at the level of the Enterprise, involved improving the position of women in Dublin Bus, An Post and Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail), as follows:
Women at Work, a project carried out in 2005 by Dublin Bus, An Post and Iarnród Éireann, was funded by the National Framework Committee for Equal Opportunities at the Level of the Enterprise. It sought to improve the gender balance in the grades and jobs where women are under-represented and to examine barriers to the recruitment, retention, pay and progression of women in the three workplaces. Dublin Bus, An Post and Iarnród Éireann are three large public sector organisations that share many commonalities. They are workplaces that have been traditionally male with jobs that have been viewed as ‘heavy work’. They also share similar union structures, whose origins come from male dominated craft unions. The three organisations have been good at retaining staff, many of whom stay within their organisation for all of their working lives. However, there have not been such good retention levels of women workers, particularly during women’s childrearing years.
A particular emphasis was to examine the perceptions of staff in the three organisations by exploring how existing policies, practices, procedures and systems in each organisation impact on gender balance. Through an audit of the position of women in each organisation, by consulting with staff and managers, and by examining best practice models, the project went on to identify how the representation of women can be improved in grades and jobs where women are currently under-represented. Each organisation prioritised actions that could be developed during the course of the project as follows:
Dublin Bus: to find ways to attract more women into bus driving and into Inspector positions; address the deficit of women at senior management levels.
An Post: to find ways to attract more women into postperson positions and into more senior positions within the organisation.
Iarnród Éireann: to find ways to attract more women into train driving and to address the under-representation of women in senior positions within the organisation.
The main activities of the project were as follows: analyse data and policies and procedures of each organisation; consult with representative groups of employees to identify perceived barriers that exist in relation to women in the organisations; compare data, practices and policies between the organisations; share experience and learning in the three organisations; identify and highlight models of good practice.
The recommendations from the project cover the following five areas: Senior management who can be equality champions and who can shift traditional perceptions about gender balance and champion changes in work organisation; implementing equality policies and improved opportunities for flexible working for all staff; supporting women into leadership positions and positions where they are under-represented; workplace actions to combat vertical and horizontal segregation; integrating gender into collective bargaining and partnership working.
5. Commentary
5.1. Please provide your own assessment and comments on the initiatives to address the gender pay gap covered by this comparative study, including any further information that you consider important to illustrate the state-of-play of pay equity in your country.
The adjusted gender pay gap is currently 8%; according to an authoritative study published by the Equality Authority and Economic and Social Research Institute in September 2009. If the gap is to be narrowed, the Government and the social partners will have to work together to promote a range of policy initiatives. In particular, the wider diffusion of high-quality affordable childcare, particularly for low-income families and single mothers, is crucial for promoting equal opportunities so that women can participate, and remain, in the labour market. In addition, the wider diffusion of a range of complementary ‘family-friendly’ initiatives, such as flexi-time and home-working, will also be required to promote equal opportunity.
Even if steps are taken to promote equal opportunities for women through childcare and family-friendly provisions, it appears unlikely that any significant reduction in gender wage differentials will materialise in the current economic and political climate, given that levels of inequality between low and high-income earners have actually been increasing in recent years. Unless action is taken to address overall inequalities in income distribution - which at this juncture appears unlikely - a gender wage gap will remain embedded. This is by virtue of the fact that women are disproportionately concentrated and segregated in low pay occupations with fewer options for advancement, and constitute a large proportion of the overall workforce who can be categorised as low paid. In contrast, men constitute a larger proportion of high-income groups employed in high wage occupations. There are signs that Ireland’s deep recession will reduce the likelihood that the gender pay gap will attract serious attention. One blow to gender equality arising from the economic downturn occurred when the Government announced significant cuts in funding for the Equality Authority, resulting in the resignation of its chief executive in early 2009. The scale of the cuts raised concerns over the future of the Equality Authority, which is involved in tackling inequality and discrimination.
Tony Dobbins, NUI Galway