Anger over gender pay disparity

Firms that pay highly educated women less than men for the same job are reflecting the bias, prejudice and discrimination of wider society, it was claimed today.

With a report revealing female graduates earn 11% less than males, Equality Authority chief executive Niall Crowley warned that it was a huge blow for those starting out in a career.

“It’s a deeply disturbing report and it is very important exercise in exploring the roots of gender inequality in the workplace,” he said.

“It’s more disturbing than worrying. It reflects a wider culture of discrimination and is indicative of the inequality experienced by women across society.

“If we are to eliminate this gender inequality, which is bad for women and bad for business, we had better look to the public sector.”

Mr Crowley said some of the transparent and formal systems adopted by the public sector should be employed in private firms to create more balance.

The study, by leading think-tank the Economic and Social Research Institute, found clear differences in salaries among highly educated men and women within three years of graduation.

Dr Helen Russell, ESRI, said it was alarming to see such differences at such an early stage in people’s careers.

“This is a section of the labour force where we would least expect to find a gender pay gap. The study shows that the pay gap begins to open up very early in men’s and women’s careers and factors such as subject choice play a role in this process,” Dr Russell said.

The report revealed:

:: Female graduates earn 11% less per week than male graduates;

:: Female graduates worked fewer hours per week, 38, than male graduates, 41, so the pay gap did not translate ino an hourly gender pay gap;

:: Some 42% of male graduates received bonuses from their employers in the last 12 months, compared to 32% of females;

:: Men working in the private sector receive higher rewards for qualifications and better returns for experience, which could not be explained by difference in personal, educational characteristics and points to possible indirect discrimination.

Frank Fahey, junior minister at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, said the inequalities were a cause for concern.

“Ireland is in line with the EU norm with women receiving on average 16% per hour less than men. I want Ireland to narrow that pay gap to become one of the best in Europe, rather than the EU average.

Mr Fahey noted the rules brought in under the Equal Status and Employment Equality Acts to help prevent discrimination. But he said he hoped the inequalities would be addressed in the National Women’s Strategy being developed by the Government departments.

Mr Crowley said while the laws were there it was difficult to advance a case of discrimination based on pay differences.

In a separate report on time use, compiled by the ESRI, a survey revealed that the average man does little or no house work.

During the week women spend about five hours on chores, while men run up a lowly one hour 40 minutes on domestic duties.

In a stark assessment of how little men do in the home, the ESRI revealed 71% of Irish men do no cooking/food preparation and 81% do no cleaning/laundry on weekdays, and these figures change little at the weekend.

Around two thirds of women spend time on these activities on weekends and weekdays.

Older people engage in a high level of household work while those aged 18-to-24 years spend the least time on housework.