Irish Women earning less than male colleagues

IOL: Women earning less than male colleagues - report: "Women earning less than male colleagues - report
13/12/2004 - 18:06:10

Irish women are earning one-fifth less than their male colleagues, a damning report revealed today.

The Central Statistics Office discovered huge discrepancies in wages, gender equality in the workforce and education.

The study found the numbers of women at risk of poverty, after pensions and social incomes, was the highest in the EU at 23% in 2001.

The study 'Women and Men in Ireland, 2004' stated that women represented only 13% of all the TDs in D?il Eireann this year, a rate well below the EU average of 22.1%, or Sweden?s strong showing of 45.3%.

This poor representation of women in the country?s political powerhouse was mirrored across the regional boards and those of state-sponsored bodies.

Efforts to break the 'glass ceiling' appear to have failed with almost 59% of women in the position of clerical officers in the Civil Service, compared with only 30% of men.

In 2003, only 10% of Assistant Secretaries were women.

Just over 70% of men were in the labour force compared with just under 50% of women.

Women work almost 10 hours less than men a week, while women?s hourly earnings were only 82.5% of men?s.

Around 240,000 men earn between ?20-30,000 a year, compared to just over 170,000 women. The number of men earning over ?50,000 euro a year was over 115,000 while only 25,000 women commanded the same wages.

The employment rate for women in Ireland last year was running at over 55% - just above the European Union average ? with the male rate at almost 75%.

The figures varied between an employment rate of 87% of women aged between"