Report highlights how gender norms still disempower women

At home, restrictive masculinities are leaving much of the household unpaid labour to women.

A new report on gender norms in Ireland reveals that although 50% of people believe gender equality has been achieved, attitudes about masculine norms still disempower women in work, politics and their home life.

The report, published by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth today, compiles data from a number of sources to see how Ireland ranks on 10 norms of restrictive masculinities, which were outlined in an OECD report, “Man Enough? Measuring Masculine Norms to Promote Women’s Empowerment”.

It highlights that a significant proportion of Irish people believe that the most important role of a woman is to take care of her home and family (52%) and that the most important role of a man is to earn money (39%).

The report says these restrictive masculinities undervalue women’s economic contributions and support the view that men’s labour is more important and valuable than women’s work.

It showed that despite a decreasing wage gap, a higher proportion of women are low wage earners (22.6%) than men (16.7%), with women more likely than men to be earning the minimum wage or less (9% of women, 6.4% of men).

In the political sphere, the report examined the norm that leadership is a masculine characteristic and that men inherently make better leaders than women. It reported that one in six people believe that women do not have the necessary qualities and skills to fill positions of responsibility in politics.

The percentage of women in the Dáil and Seanad has increased from 19% in Q3 2012 to 27.7% in Q3 2020. However, the 2021 share remains smaller than the EU average of 32.7%, and the percentage of seats held by women in local governments in Ireland was the third lowest in the EU 27 in 2018, with only 20.1% of seats held by women.

At home, restrictive masculinities are leaving much of the household unpaid labour to women. The report identifies that the gender gap in weekly hours of unpaid work in Ireland was among the highest in the EU 28 in 2016. For every hour of unpaid domestic work a male does, a woman does nearly two.

Only 13.6% of Irish men report difficulty in combining paid work with their care responsibilities, the lowest rate in the EU, whereas 28.1% of women say they find it difficult to balance both.

Roderic O’Gorman TD, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth published the spotlight statistical report today, highlighting that Ireland is the first country in the world to apply the OECD masculine norms report to national data.

“The data shows that even in a country like Ireland where we have implemented significant legislative and policy measures to promote gender equality in recent years, more work can be done to tackle some of the hidden and attitudinal drivers of inequality. 

The report showed that despite a decreasing wage gap, a higher proportion of women are low wage earners (22.6%) than men (16.7%), with women more likely than men to be earning the minimum wage or less (9% of women, 6.4% of men).

The report highlights that moving from restrictive masculinities to gender-equitable masculinities has positive consequences for women’s wellbeing and allows men to take on diverse role and behaviours, which in turn is positive for their wellbeing. 

"The data can inform our approach on a number of issues, such as paternity leave, boosting female participation in politics and leadership roles and health care policy,” he said.

The report will inform policy-making in Ireland in the area of women’s empowerment and well-being and gender equality and is to be used as the basis for a webinar to be hosted by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in early 2022.