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IRISH WOMEN HAVE closed the pay gap in many managerial positions, but are still paid 14.4% less than men across the board.
Women working menial or supporting jobs face a much wider gap according to new figures from the Wage Indicator Foundation.
Among executives, senior officials, legislators, science and engineering professionals women on average earn 8-11% less than their male colleagues, according to the stats. In the building and related trades professions (excluding electricians), and even as stationary plant and machine operators they are faced with a gender pay gap of only 6%.
A national average, compiled with 2013 data by Eurostat, indicates a gender pay gap of 14.4%.
The gender pay gap is defined as unequal pay for work of equal value which is performed with the same skills and qualifications.
In the European context, Ireland ranks better than the EU28 average of 16.3% but almost double that of Italy and Hungary and more than double that of Slovenia, Poland and Malta. It is highest in Estonia, Austria and Czech Republic.
The European Commission (EC) says that a number of factors contribute to the gender pay gap.
Namely that many management jobs are held almost exclusively by men, which skews entire sectors. The CEO pay gap is around 4%.
It adds that unpaid work in the home is taken up by women on a 3:1 ratio, meaning that many women reduce their hours to part-time. Added to that, women spend more time out of the labour market. These interruptions influence hourly pay and future earnings. The EC also says the labour market is segregated:
“This means that in some sectors and occupations, women tend to be overrepresented, while in others men are overrepresented. In some countries, occupations predominantly carried out by women, such as teaching or sales, offer lower wages than occupations predominantly carried out by men, even when the same level of experience and education is needed.”
The EC adds that the final reason for the wage gap is wage discrimination which, while illegal, still happens in some places.
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Staff in NH and hospitals are no longer doing traditional nursing. They are meeting all of HiQA requirements alright , ticking boxes , filling forms. Meantime they don’t have time to care for the patient. Give me a nurse who will care any day of the week ..but they have been strangled by bureaucracy and paperwork. I’d rather see a rusty wheelchair with a happy patient in it than a shiny one with a patient left alone while a nurse fills out forms about them. HiQA has become like the Spanish Inquisition. W have lost something while endeavouring to be correct about everything.
Well said Helen. You hit the nail on the head.In HIQUAs eyes its paperwork and box ticking over real nursing care.
Absolutely right Helen. Hiqa focuses on it’s paper standards not the quality of actual care. Nursing staff have to spend their time filling out forms and covering ass from hiqa. Gone are the days of real care when buses could chat to patients check how they were feeling mentally and physically and care for the whole person. The hiqa standards are so extensive no unit will be fully compliant. I have yet to read a report where all standards had been reach there is always some nit picking. That way they create a job for themselves. In a time of public service employment and cut backs this quango has grown greatly. Money that could have been spent in service provision. It
All we hear about are the bad nursing homes
There are some wonderful nursing homes and my mother is in one of these
The Tara in bray
It is home form home and the staff are caring ,loving and go the full mile
All presided over by the wonderful owner anne Costello
Let’s hear a bit more positive reports
Otherwise people get scared
^^^There is a plug form an nursing home owner if I ever saw one……
But the message in the post is correct. There are allot of really good Nursing Homes out there. Unfortunately we only hear the horror stories.
Also instead of putting all the blame on the Director of Nursing/Matron(as HIQUA seem to do) the nursing home owners must be held accountable also.
@Phyllis
Care staff are not allowed to ‘care’ as they would
like to as they have targets,paperwork,no beds and middle
managers to deal with.Nobody goes into nursing wanting to
take patients around a hospital on commodes.
My grandad has been in a nursing home for almost 2 years due to Alzheimers it would be impossible to care for him at home. The work the nurses and carers do is truly commendable, due to budget cuts and pencil pushers demanding paperwork etc. it is impossible for the staff to care for each individual patient that the way they would want to and should be cared for!
I visit my grandad twice a week both times when he’s getting one of his meals, the staff are running back and forth trying to make sure each patient has a meal, there are 12 patients in my grandfathers ward that can’t feed themselves my grandad included there will be max 2 nurses on duty and 3-4 carers, they are doing their best in stretched situations.
Reports like this annoy me, they cost money and don’t help anyone, often make it appear that residential staff don’t care and fail to help anyone!
Those pen pushers and whoever makes the decisions to cut back would want to realise if they are lucky to reach old age that’s what’s ahead for them.
@Row-Sheen: So what are we to do? Are you suggesting we should ignore reports of elder abuse? Really? What if it were you being wheeled around with your underwear down? Just because you have had a good experience does not mean that others have had and it is critical to highlight incidences of this nature so as to acknowledge that they are unacceptable.
What has happened to ‘care staff’ that allows them to treat their patients in this awful manner :(
Places don’t have enough staff too manage?
Few years in a nursing home costs hundreds of thousands of Euro and the state pays for it. The more old people the greater the strain on the system.
What do you suggest then, euthanasia? No matter what the cost to the state for their accommodation, the cost of preserving their dignity is zero. These are the people who gave us the state to begin with.
@David Burke the HSE nursing homes are understaffed, too much emphasis on forms and bureaucratic nonsense which results in time taken from the nurses in providing care to the residents.
With regard to payment I am afraid that you are incorrect in assuming that the state picks up the tab. The HSE will recoup as much as they can from the patient. After assessment the HSE will take 80℅ of the weekly pension plus 7.5℅ per annum of any assets held. You are allowed to keep the first €36,000. The HSE will then provide a loan to cover the balance which is recouped upon your death.
Eg: savings €36,000 (not counted)
Value of assets €100,000
Pension €248 pw
248 x 80% = 198.40
100,000 x 7.5℅ = 7500/12 = 625
625 + 198.40 = a weekly contribution of €823.40
I know this as I was in the unenviable position of contemplating this type of care for my terminally ill mother. I have since decided to care for her at home under the palliative care system.
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/nhss/nhss.html#fin
Yet another appalling indictment of the treatment of the most vulnerable. Will anybody be held to account for this? I very much doubt it.
I think the nurse in question will…
These problems and issues are a direct result of cuts and staff shortages. Before the recession, on a 31 patient ward, there were 4 staff nurses and 2 care assistants. Now there are 2 staff nurses and 1 care assistant. How are they expected to feed the dependant patients at meal times AND do the drug round at the same time when there is no staff. Nurses are doing their best and all they receive from from HIQA is criticism instead of a ‘we know you’re stretched to the limits but we know you’re doing the best you can’.
The drive to the bottom for costs is behind this. Owners have to absorb increasing costs to maintain their profit levels and think they can do so by cutting staff costs. A real acandal is the homecare system where staff t&c’s are being hacked to boost profits while taking in donations of food from multi national shops that are wholly unsuitable for their clients. Anything to save another euro by those on already bloated, unjustified salaries
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