Why does the glass ceiling and gender pay gap still exist for women?

We are better educated than men, but earn less and don’t climb the career ladder in the numbers we should. Is this our choice or is the fault of a culture that believes a good mother is always available to her children, asks Aileen Lee

IRISH women are better-qualified and more likely to have a third-level qualification than Irish men. Not bad when you consider that it was only in 1977 that the Employment Equality Act prohibited discrimination on the grounds of gender or marital status in most areas of employment.

But women still earn less than their male counterparts.Women are still under-represented in management, even in the sectors where they are the majority, such as the public, health and education sectors. They are similarly under-represented in the Oireachtas and in local and regional authorities.