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THE DIFFERENCE IN the amount of money women earn versus that of men is still too large in Ireland and across the European Union, according to Labour MEP Emer Costello.
In an interview with Karen Coleman from radioep.ie today, Costello said the pay gaps of 16 per cent in the European Union at large and of 14 per cent in Ireland are “still unacceptably high”.
“I think what we need to say is that gender equality has always been a core value of the European Union,” she said. “The European Union has, in many ways, done much to advance women’s rights and we cannot let the crisis unravel and roll back on the process that has been made.”
Costello was speaking today after a Eurobarometer report on how women were affected by the crisis was discussed in the European Parliament. The report showed that 38 per cent of Europeans rank the pay gap as the most important gender inequality followed jointly by violence against women and the greater difficulties for women in reconciling their private and working lives.
Almost one in three Europeans said that the crisis has, in particular, worsened the pay gap and 21 per cent said they would like the issue to be tackled as a priority for the next election in 2014.
Listen to Costello’s comments in full here (MP3).
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I can lift 12 crates, she can lift 7 maybe 8 on a good day. Why should I get the same amount for lifting more crates? That’s not on. If she’s a forklift operator then fair enough but as it stands a crate’s a crate.
QED.
Well said that man. I like the cut of your jib.
What about the gender inequality in unemployment? More young men without a job than young women.
Women are more highly educated. Maybe that accounts for the difference?
So there’s an education gap? What are we doing about that?
I reckon give equal opportunities in secondary schools.
Too many girls schools taught home ec but no wood work or metal work etc. Maybe we should try and encourage more lads out of the trades and into health and education?
Tommy , health, taking bigger cuts than elsewhere,
More men needed then pay may be not be as badly cut,
Now that’s gender inequality
Where is even maternity/paternity leave? In Denmark both parents can share total maternity period at will…
That is most likely the key to bringing the gap closer together. In a 10 year period from 25 to 35 when both men and woman are trying to climb the career ladder a woman in Ireland has 2.4 children. This means she is out of work for about 2 years out of those 10. A man therefore has a lot more experience that is very hard to catch up with.
There will always be a certain level of difference as long as woman choose part time work etc.
Women want to be mans equal, that’s why they are payed less, a complete lack of ambition!
Boom boom! Don’t worry about the red thumbs, guys don’t find sexist jokes so funny when they’re on the receiving end!
I can’t speak for all 3,000,000,000 of us, but I also don’t find sexist jokes funny when they are as old as the hills and missing an apostrophe.
Paternity leave would be a great thing – a lot of the problem is clearly that many women are still doing most of the childcare work. As discussed on every thread about father’s rights, plenty of men would like to spend more time with their children as well, so it would be nice if the state would make it possible for both partners to take turns being the one who stays home with the newborn.
Let’s use the classic Wimbledon prize money scenario. Both the male and female champions win the exact same amount and yet the men do approx 40% more work. On what basis is this equal and fair to men?
They play less sets and there is less demand for it.
By your logic, doubles matches would be of extraordinary value.
Stop the PC b***** please
Why should the prize money be equal then Michael?
The Wimbledon prize isn’t the same for both unless they changed it in the last year or two!
It has been equal since 2007.
Is there any truth to the rumour that dinosaurs have been spotted in Ireland?
Running amok by the looks of it!
Labour MEP Emer Costello needs to account for the fact that woman work less hours and choose careers that offer lower pay rates. This is what accounts for the gender pay gap. Not some form of built in sexism. I fully expect that the woman in my company who do the same job as me earn the same money
Come to my hospital. The majority of medical staff are women and without them, hospitals would close. These women should be paid far more than they are. They also work far more hours than any man in any other job.
How can you possibly know that?
Tommy I dont deny that the female medical staff so a great job and deserve more money they are getting. I am talking about the country as a whole. Woman choose part time work
The latest OECD study shows that men spend 344 minutes in paid work per day while woman spend 197.
And how much work do they do in the home after their day in work that they dont get paid for?
Far more than any man I reckon!
If mothers were paid for the work they do in the home, we’d soon see that women do far more work than we do.
How do I know that Chuck? Because i work with them!
Ha! Tommy who do you expect should pay them for that? The man is still in work and earning money while the wife is at home. The extra money that is earned by the man for working longer hours is then shared in the family (unless the relationship is seriously broken!)..
Though the downside to that is the male tends to have less time to spend with the kids etc. because he is in work!
But if we had paid paternity leave or leave that was split between 2 parents, then it wouldnt be an issue. Thats what the feminist movement have been calling for for sometime now.
If women quit working tomorrow, we’d be screwed tax wise plus we wouldnt have a health or education system at all.
Tommy. I think you’d find that without all the male staff the hospital would have to close too! I know a few nurses and they work 12 hour shifts of course but only 3 days a week and then maybe 4 days the other week but over a month it adds up to an average 38-40 our week. The unions make sure of that so how do you back up the comment that they work longer hours than any man in any other job???
Cooperguy, plenty of women who work full time come home from work and then do the housework, feed the kids and the husband, clean the house, do the shopping etc.
No tmany men in fulltime employment do all that.
Because there are few men in nursing, labs etc and its these people who keep the healthcare system going. Women are the majority of doctors, SpRs etc too.
In my experience, its men who are the dossers in the healthcare system too.
The very people the HSE needs to get rid of, seem to be men. Upper and middle management are men!
Its tough to digest for those of us who put in the hours but its true and also the nurses I know, do at least 40 hours a week.
Tommy,where is this hospital you work at with mostly women doctors,in all the times i have been to the hospital for myself or with my wife i can only remember two occasions where i seen by a female doctor.
Tommy I suggest you tell these woman who work full time and then do all the work at home to sort their partners out because they are not in a very equal relationship.
I know myself and my partner split the housework pretty evenly as we both work full time. However in my parents house when I was growing up my mother did most of the housework as she was the one around the house and my dad worked.
An unequal relationship is something for the people in the relationship to sort out.
Tommy I was asking how you can possibly know that they “work far more hours than any man in any other job”? Do you monitor every man in every job?
Also, this notion that women do all the work at home confuses me; if a man lives alone, what woman has to come around and clean up? And if a woman lives alone, are you seriously suggesting that her employer be required to pay her for cleaning up after herself?
Tommy C you’re spluttering some sh*te. Seems like your stuck in a job that mostly women do. Additionally it’s sour grapes when your looking at men earning more than you in there. Most nurses are females but doctors? You’re having a giraffe…..and if women are doing more at home they need to address that individually
More minutes spent in the office does not necessarily equate to greater productivity ;) therefore time spent cannot alone be considered as a reason for higher pay, in my humble opinion!!!
It can Roisin because that is how pay is calculated! There are already methods of measuring performance aswell which determine pay increases and bonuses in most companies
While I’m in favour of equal pay for equal work, I think it needs to be acknowledged that there are cultural reasons for why there are wage differences. Single Irish women earn more than single Irish men, but much less once they get married. Also, men should be given more paternity leave, as it would decrease any discrimaination that may exist against married women. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/the-4-rich-countries-where-women-out-earn-men-with-1-huge-caveat/266343/
Again I ask (seriously). Is this comparing like for like?
Are they comparing successful women who dedicate all their energy to work to men who do the same? Then comparing women who invest a major amount of their time to family / caring to men who do likewise?
To compare two lumped groups where there are major numerical differences in behavioural types is just simply mathematically incorrect.
If that is being accounted for then fair enough. If not, the heading should read:
“PEOPLE who are more involved in family life instead of work life are invariably paid less because they are seen as less dedicated and useful to the company”
They
Usy have looked at Angela Kearns wages and pension package. God help her she has to oversee the Rehab Group and for that she earns more than Obama and Enda together. She is a friend of Enda and co so I guess that’s ok then. To get over €500,000:00 per year in salary and pension plus extra expenses uunvouched in this day day and age is surly unfair on a gender basis.
They say a woman’s work is never done.. maybe that’s why they get paid less ; )
Also the picture, how is that woman in the picture? He looks like Trap but she looks like Falcao!
My wife earns 30% more than me for 50% less hours .Its probably due to working in different sectors of work?
For the exact same job?
I probably should have said profession Tom
Hate seeing this stuff peddled around. It’s all made to sound like women get paid less for doing the same job – direct discrimination – but that is not the case. If you look up statistics on this you can see that the reason for the pay gap is due to a number of factors such as men going for more managerial positions, women going for lower paid jobs such as carers, nursing etc., also that women work less hours than men, and take more time off.
Please stop peddling this nonsense. I expect this from RTE, but come on TheJournal, give an intelligent view.
Stick around. You’ll soon come to expect it!
You expect intelligent views on thejournal? Excuse me while I laugh so hard I choke on my false teeth…
“Gender equality!”……..”you can’t hit me, I’m a girl!”
You shouldn’t be hitting anyone.
Then why is “violence against women” so often decried as a sickening crime? It’s certainly not because it’s more prevalent than violence against men
What if they hit you first? I ask this because a (some absolute yoke of a) girl tried to give my brother a slagging in a bar in front of a load of people and when he got better making a fool of her, she gave him a big slap across the face. So he proceeded to pour his drink over her head and was met with screams from her friends saying “you can’t do that she’s a girl”. It’s a bit odd that she can start giving him abuse, then slap him when it’s not going to plan and that’s fine but when he poured the drink he was made out to be some pariah.
Ok, just one joke k?
How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
None, they never change anything.
Woooooooohoooooooo!
Adebaaayoooooooo
I’m sick to death of women moaning in work if you want to get paid more spend less time drinking tea and chatting and do some work for a change! Bloody women they won’t be happy till we are all dead!!
How many Gender pay/equality articles can one website have on one day? Is the editor pushing an agenda?
Tends to be the same few authors who put this feminist propaganda up.
Female editor?? #ironic
Some stats/facts that don’t tend to get mentioned in these reports:
1) no paternity leave – single biggest factor
2) men tend to work longer hours
3) men tend to be prepared to commute further
Why are we still flogging this dead horse? There. Is. No. Gender. Pay. Gap. Women make almost a fifth more than men until they take time off to raise children. Which is a choice. It’s incredible that this complete myth is still being peddled as truth an even more incredulous that its still holding water among outside of groups with an obvious vested interest in peddling it so they can get funding.
Maybe we should address the gap that exists in the early part of the average working life?
I’m not convinced the early pay gap is a real one either – ie that men are paid less for the same work. If it was, an employer could make a killing by hiring young men and paying them 17% less than the women. Doesn’t happen.
Fellas do a better job at fellas job (fire service, guards etc)
No gender discrimination or bias here.
Well my girlfriend is no good at concrete…
How many women does it take to open a jar …. Oh wait ….
Women, on average, work fewer hours in safer jobs. That’s why, on average, they earn less
“Earn” being the operative word
For a man who is against a womans right to chose abortion, youre very anti women in general.
Would it suit you to have women barefoot and pregnant for their entire lives?
Very constructive. Is there anything in particular you disagree with or do you just want to talk about me?
Men work more hours than women
Men die at work at many times the rate women do
Clear enough?
Tommy. We had a vote at the last patriachry meeting. We want your “man-card” back, and want you to know you’ll be under the duress of a class II oppression, from privileged white males everywhere.
Okay, so fair enough if you can lift more crates than a woman, fine, but we’re talking about the fact that very often women are more educated, and likely more qualified, for jobs that don’t involve manual labour. It may come as a shock but a lot of women are not professional tennis players or manual labourers and those are the situations where it’s unfair. I am SO sick of “men’s rights” nonsense taking very specific situations where equality has run amok and implying that it means everything’s unfair for men now. Go back to your cave before the some angry woman pisses all over your bonfire.
Feel better?
Hahaha, I really do, I’ll admit I’m trolling, but in gentler terms I mean some of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwogDPh-Sow
Look at that, silly woman!
I’ll bet she wouldn’t be able to name one single job were two employees of different genders would be paid differently. The pay gap is not due to any discrimination. It’s because it takes time for things to change.
Cleaners, actually. The more marginalised the profession, the more likely to not receive equal pay. One of those nasty things where gender and class intertwine.
How about fashion models then Nick? Men earn a fraction of what women earn and this is justified because “the market” dictates it. I don’t think that excuse would be acceptable in paying a woman less
Give all the banking job,s to the women ,we could save a fortune and get a better job done
3 women go for a job, one with 10 years experience and no qualifications, one with 5 years experience and a Plc course under her belt. The last with 18 months experience but a masters degree.
Who gets the job?
Easy, the one with the biggest tits.
Ah the old ones are the best….thank you, thank you, I’m here all week….
Most men can work their entire lives and never become boss, woman in the door 1 week and feels entitled to the position regardless of experience etc, well done women’s lib.
Which woman was this? Or are you referring to all women? Funny, I don’t see too many in managerial positions… Or are you just bitter because a woman was promoted over you, how dare she!
This is a terribly difficult issue to deal with, no person deserves to be punished for being born a certain gender. This gender pay gap is a good sign of a nations progression, with the pay gap tightening as a nation becomes more modern and less womanizing.
However (as much as I hate pointing this out), there is a barrier between the genders that will inevitably have an effect on pay rates. Every employer male or female, can see the small risk involved in hiring or promoting a female, as she could decide to have a child, recover, and or spend time with it. I don’t know if this is our problem or if it’s genuine blatant discrimination. I think it’s the former.
There are few options that I know of that tackle this fairly… Better female education for the entire population is probably the best one, as it decreases the perceived likelyness of having children. Financial incentives maybe?
So maybe its time to listen to the feminists who say that we need paid paternal leave too and if the man wants to be a stay at home dad, then this should also be encouraged. Not every dad wants to work outside the home just like not every mother wants to give up her job.
Yes, cause with pay cuts being forked through the expenses, what the government is going to do is pay men for times off as well!
Good idea, shit time to try and implement it!
I actually don’t agree with financial incentives, just saying it’s an option. Education is 100 times more effective.
To examine this issue properly, you really have to look at the age bands. It sounds harsh, but you need to discount the disparity rate amongst the over 45s/50s – the figures for these people tend not to reflect society as it is now, but rather the society as it was when these contracts were drawn up. Like looking up into the night sky, you’re not just looking across distances, you’re looking back in time.
I don’t know, but I would very much hope that is disparity between the sexes is far less amongst people younger then 45/50, and this would give a far more accurate indication of employment and pay trends now.
Da biz, men’s rights? Who represents men’s rights? Men are happy enough with a level playing field.
I can’t say I feel that way, and maybe I’m being unfair, but this article highlights the gender pay gap and what I saw were a lot of comments pointing out how right it is for men to earn more than women and how unfair it is for men when they don’t. Some of the comments I agreed with, that generally men tend to work longer hours, but I’ve found that for women it doesn’t matter if you work 13 hour days (like I have) you’ll always be valued far less than the men in your job.
Men are both physically and intellectually superior to women. This is why men are paid more. Very simple.
A bridge is missing its troll.
Not at all Hammy. It’s quite simple really. A person who lives in D4 is most likely to be better off than someone from Ballymun. I your a woman your most likely to be inferior to men. Look at all the contributions men made to society technologically, scientifically, medically. Now compare that to women. I’m sorry your offended by this but this is fact, not fiction.
16% is fairly good margin for uncertainty when you take culture into consideration.
Blah blah blah… stereotype… blah blah blah… made up statistic… blah blah blah ….. one sex is better than the other.
Makes are better than females. It’s just women can’t accept it. I can’t help. That.
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