Irish women ‘among EU’s worst-treated workers’

IRISH female workers are being bullied, harassed, threatened, abused and discriminated against in their jobs.

According to a major study on working conditions, Irish workers generally are more satisfied than most of their European Union counterparts. They also say they have a good work/life balance, adequate levels of pay and job security.

They are also the least exposed to tobacco smoke, showing the success of the no-smoking policy in the workplace.

But when questioned on the details, Irish female workers say they have to cope with much more than male colleagues, and women in other EU countries.

According to the survey, they are the third most bullied and harassed in the EU after the Finns and Luxembourgers. Those under 30 report they experience age discrimination.

The study carried out by the EU’s Eurofound agency headquartered in Dublin does not say if this is because they are suffering more than women in the rest of Europe, or more aware of the issue and so register incidents more readily.

Mans Martensson of Eurofound said: “We believe the Finns top the list because during our survey the issue was top of the agenda in Finland following an incident that received a lot of publicity, so people were very aware.”

John Hurley, a research officer with Eurofound, said that generally the northern European countries with good child care facilities and a high proportion of women in management also report more discrimination than the southern countries.

“In Ireland, 9% reported harassment compared to the 5% average in the EU.

“It may reflect people’s awareness at a national level,” he said.

Ireland had the highest percentage of women under the age of 30 saying they suffered age discrimination. Mr Hurley said the survey did not give any clue as to whether this meant they believed they were suffering because they were too young or too old.

Irish women also tend to be very hardworking compared to men when hours spent working at home and in paid employment is taken into account.

Men on average spent one hour a week working with older people and four hours with children while women spent two hours a week caring for older people and 14 hours with children.