Posted on

Trajectory of Ireland’s Industrial Gender Pay Gap

Trajectory of Ireland's Industrial Gender Pay Gap

There is no way around it: Money is an important resource.   

Ireland’s gender pay gap is an accumulation of social norms, employment law and family planning which have a significant influence on individuals in employment, and the roles and responsibilities of employers.

” our tendency to sideline the past as impertinent to the present, only to rediscover how central it is, in understanding the driving forces of our world and harnessing them toward a better future.”

Maria Popova, Brainpickings.
=> How Did Ireland Arrive At An Imbalance of ~20% In The Economic Power of Ordinary Workers?
Posted on

Causes of Ireland’s Gender Pay Gap & Working Women’s Income

shows the gender pay gap in Ireland with the average pay for men and the average pay for women

‘Money. It is not the root of all evil. It makes the world go ‘round. It is a source of power. It is the freedom to pursue our dreams. And — no secret here — we women have less of it than men do. “

Ellevest, Mind the Gap Guide

What are the facts related to women earning money in Ireland?

  • Collectively working women earned less than working men (the “unadjusted gender pay gap”). On average in 2019, an Irish woman earned  €2879 every month, while the average man earned  €3885.
  • Collectively working women earned 26% less than men or € 12,072 annually.

Ireland’s Gender Pay Gap Cause => More Women On Lower Incomes

  • More women in precarious employment
  • More women working in lower paid industries
  • More women in lower pay grades
  • Slight more women on the minimum wage that men. (Citizens’ Assembly, 2020)

Ireland’s Gender Pay Gap Cause => Pay By Sector

hows that 35.1% of all employments earned less than €400 per week. Jobs earning between €400 and €800 per week accounted for 37.5% of all employments. Just over a quarter (27.3%) of all employments earned more than €800 per week. In 2014, 4.7% of employments earned €1,600 or more per week.
Some sectors, such as accommodation and food services, have more people on lower pay. Sectors with more people on higher pay, such as information and communication, tend to have more men.

In 2014, overall 4.7% of employees earned €1,600 or more per week. The Information and Technology industry does best, with 15.2% of those employed in IT earning €1,600+. There are less women employed in the IT sector. Most senior positions are held by men with more women working in lower paid roles.

CSO Weekly average earnings by industry sector 2011-2014 highlighting the % earning 1600+. Information and communication: 15.2%,

Ireland’s Gender Pay Gap Cause => Too Few Women in Management

As noted above there are more women at lower pay grades. One cause of the gender pay pay in Ireland is the dominance of men in leadership positions.

via Helen Russell, ESRI (2020) at the Citizens’ Assembly of Ireland, Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Solutions
  • Less women in middle management
  • Less women in the C-suite
  • Less women on boards of directors

Ireland’s Gender Pay Gap Cause => It’s Not Education

“Women represented more than half (53.8%) of all third-level graduates in Ireland in 2017.” (CSO, 2017)

As noted above, information and communication is one of the best paid sector, as we see below, STEM subjects continue to be dominated by men. This suggests two questions. 1). why is there such a difference in financial appreciation between sectors? and 2). how can we create gender inclusion within the various sectors so that there are, for example, more men in education and more women in engineering?

  • Working women with third-level education earn ~8% less per hour than their male peers 3 year after graduating.
  • Collectively third-level educated women aged 25- 64 earn 28% less per hour than their male peers.
  • By about 55 years old, collectively third-level educated women earn 40% less than their male peers in Ireland. (Chapman and Doris, 2019)
  • The pay gaps are largest amongst the highest, most educated earners. Amongst the highest earners, women earn substantially less than top paid men. (Chapman and Doris, 2019).

What’s Next?

Learn more about the Gender Pay Gap in Ireland ↓

  • Read about Sally Krawcheck’s Six Gender Pay Gaps
Sally Krawcheck’s Six Gender Pay Gaps – in the New York Times

Posted on

Phrases To Challenge Conversational Inequality At Work

Gender Inequality Phrases Workplace

 #ChooseToChallenge  – International Women’s Day 2021
How to support colleagues who are being silenced verbally at work.

Each of us is responsible for our own thoughts and actions. It may not be easy, but we can ‘choose to challenge’ conversational inequality. Prepare a phrase to avoid brain freeze when faced with conversational inequalities. 

=> Find Your Phrase To Help You Choose to Challenge
Posted on

Negotiation – What Do You Want …….

Tell me what you want, what you really really want …

The wonderful lyrics of the Spice girls 1996 (yes, it’s that long ago) hit song. Sometimes knowing what we really want is a complex mix of work and life priorities, each challenging the other for pole position, and they are just the items that are in our awareness. Knowing where to invest your time, how to ask for what you want in negotiations (link to workshop) or next step in your career can require reflection and analysis of one’s current context.

Continue reading “Negotiation – What Do You Want …….”