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IRISH WOMEN HAVE closed the pay gap in many managerial positions, but are still paid 14.4% less than men across the board.
Women working menial or supporting jobs face a much wider gap according to new figures from the Wage Indicator Foundation.
Among executives, senior officials, legislators, science and engineering professionals women on average earn 8-11% less than their male colleagues, according to the stats. In the building and related trades professions (excluding electricians), and even as stationary plant and machine operators they are faced with a gender pay gap of only 6%.
A national average, compiled with 2013 data by Eurostat, indicates a gender pay gap of 14.4%.
The gender pay gap is defined as unequal pay for work of equal value which is performed with the same skills and qualifications.
In the European context, Ireland ranks better than the EU28 average of 16.3% but almost double that of Italy and Hungary and more than double that of Slovenia, Poland and Malta. It is highest in Estonia, Austria and Czech Republic.
The European Commission (EC) says that a number of factors contribute to the gender pay gap.
Namely that many management jobs are held almost exclusively by men, which skews entire sectors. The CEO pay gap is around 4%.
It adds that unpaid work in the home is taken up by women on a 3:1 ratio, meaning that many women reduce their hours to part-time. Added to that, women spend more time out of the labour market. These interruptions influence hourly pay and future earnings. The EC also says the labour market is segregated:
“This means that in some sectors and occupations, women tend to be overrepresented, while in others men are overrepresented. In some countries, occupations predominantly carried out by women, such as teaching or sales, offer lower wages than occupations predominantly carried out by men, even when the same level of experience and education is needed.”
The EC adds that the final reason for the wage gap is wage discrimination which, while illegal, still happens in some places.
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Ah the mythical gender pay gay which has been debunked so many times but won’t die.
If anyone has any evidence a man is being paid more than a woman for the same job and same experience based purely on gender please report it to the guards, it’s illegal.
This is 100% my stance! I’ve never in my life come across this situation and if anyone finds themselves in it they should certainly make a point of reporting the employer to the relevant authorities! Until someone can provide evidence I will treat this nonsense with the apathy it deserves.
Spot on. It is entirely mythical.
I’ve seen it. I’ve been paid more than women who have been in the job years longer. And before you make excuses, it was because they didn’t have testicles…
Wait for it….every comment will be from a man
@socrates you should have reported it, it’s illegal.
Socrates – so why would that scenario occur?
Me too… I was better at my job.
I also pushed management to move away from tenure and more towards performance based pay.
It occurred because the boss loved his little boys club. He even fired women for having an opposing view, whereas he’d have screaming rows win other blokes and then bring them for boozy lunches when he was done. All senior staff were men and all wanted to keep it that way it seems.
I call bs. Why didn’t you report him so
Socrates watching too much mad men again
Socrates also women give birth and once you train them in they take the guts of a year off.. so that means retraining someone else – it’s cheaper and more productive to go with a man.
No BS, and the chain of command were all his mates so reporting it would have meant getting the chop myself. I notice you need to pretend I’m lying to further your belief that its a myth, but as Gabbys comment shows, many rule women out in case they have kids.
Socrates, you don’t report it through the chain of command, you report it to the authorities. It’s illegal, end of.
A man who will die younger and suffer more illnesses, despite not risking his life giving birth? Try to be a bit less biased.
This old canard again. Every couple of weeks we get an article suggesting female oppression because women don’t get paid the same as men. Once again….for the same job, for the same hours…they get paid the same. If they job share or work part time , they will earn less. And as long as more women choose to be air hostesses and more men choose to,be airline pilots then there will be a general pay gap too. But a female pilot and a male pilot get paid the same as do a female hostess and a a male one.
They’re called cabin crew, have been for at least the last 20 years. As for “choose to be a pilot”, Its not about “choice” it’s about coming up with the €100 plus to pay for your training.
Wow, a whole €100? Maybe we can do a whip-round?
How is it easier for men to pony up the money to be a pilot than a woman? I assume you meant €100k btw.
Cabin crew it is.
Aerial lingua pilot cadet programme is free and equal. No 100k required
The myth that will not die. Confusing pay and earnings.
Why is this ridiculous myth that has been debunked many times still allowed to be published as fact by the media? Women on average choose lower paying professions than men, worker fewer hours, take longer holidays and the big one, take years out of work to have kids. Discrimination has nothing to do with it and it would make no sense to. Capitalism is colour and gender blind. If a company could save money by exclusively hiring women then that is exactly what they would be doing
This is what happens when you take one year off every time you have a child….
Why write an article on the paygap when it’s been proven to be non-existant? What’s next, an exposition on how the world is really flat?
You never read the article did you…I can you tell didn’t
I did actually – but quite simply the paygap does not exist when you account for differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure or hours worked per week. There is a reason why no credible economist touches this issue with a 10-foot barge pole, as it would be a waste of time.
true karl, Not one credible economist takes the gender pay gap seriously.
Cristina Hoff Sommers – a feminist economist
Thomas Sowell – a much heralded economist
Two people to Google or youtube that can explain exactly how the numbers should be looked at in these data sets versus how it is presented to us to perpetuate this feminist agenda myth. Sowell discredited systemic racial AND gender based pay discrimination as far back as the eighties. Anyone with an interest in this, and that should be all of us, should have a look at the work of these two. There are others, but these two are the most articulate.
Thanks for that. will make interesting reading .
If you feel you are being discriminates against due to your gender and not because you do less work then it is illegal and you can make a claim under the
Equal Status Act. First send an ES1 form to the company outlining your complaint and if you do not recieve a satisfactory response within a month you can fill out an ES2 form and make your complaint to the work place relations commision.
What about women getting a year off to have a baby? – hardly equal.
Female privileges are excluded by the Equal Status Act because they are introduced through legislation and Acts of the oireachtas are exempt which means the government can discriminate against men, the young and the old all they want ie The Finance Act or the Social Welfare Act.
Women talk all day and gossip . Where as men do the work . Maybe they is a reason for a pay gap !
@conor also they wear skirts and tight fitting blouses which distract us men from doing our work.. which leads to a lack of productivity.
It is ILLEGAL to be paid less due to things such as gender, sexuality, religion or so on. But by experience, or the amount of hours you work – part time or full time then it is acceptable. I don’t expect to get paid for 40 hours of work if I only worked 30. I don’t expect to get paid the same as someone who has been in the position longer and thus has asked for and received a raise.
This is worse than the “gender quotas” crap.
The real pay gap is between public and private sector… Sick of subsidising bums with my taxes…. And I am excluding the Luas driver, as those belong to a different category all together…
Women are payed 14.4% less across all sectors. The hint is in the headline. They didn’t take any actual figures into account. Women do generally get payed less, because we make different choices. It’s not a bad thing. This is just a ridiculous feminist agenda that won’t die and it’s disappointing to see the media constantly pandering to these whingers.
It’s funny how they never mention the workplace death gap. That gap is only in or around 90%.
That’s terrible, no wonder I’m broke each month before pay day
Women are priveleged to give birth to 100% of the world’s population, pretty amazing natrual advantage conferred on the fairer gender I would say.
I think I stumbled across an MRA meeting !
You surely did. If they don’t like it, it can’t be real…
Ahhh yes MRA… A desperate attempt by certain people to force the opposition to surrender to their point of view by forcing a black and white perspective (with us or against) and clouding the argument with guilt and emotion. (Do you not believe women are as worthy).
The article clearly state it’s about Managerial positions but the MRA’s are citing subordinate roles as examples…chalk and cheese
I recommend you educate yourself on this rather than believing Feminists myths.
Many say the pay gap is a result of the maternity leave which women are given. The solution, give men the same amount of paternity leave. Remove the incentive for companies to pay women less while also allowing father’s to spend more time with their newborn children. Everyone wins.
I fully support that idea and have tried to champion a shared parental leave that the parents split however they see fit, but it gets a lot of resistance from some men. With no real explanation either.
When they said gap, I thought Luas lol.
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