Press
release by The Iona Institute

 National
Women’s Council wrong to blame gender pay gap on lack of daycare
places

Sweden
has universal, State subsidised daycare but its pay gap is only 1 percent
lower

March
2, 2012 New
figures from the European Commission show that the gender pay gap in Ireland is
17 percent, which is in line with the EU average.

Today
on Morning Ireland Orla O’Connor of the National Women’s Council said one of the
major factors contributing to this is a lack of affordable daycare in
Ireland.

Proof
that the major factor is not a lack of affordable daycare places is provided by
the example of Sweden.

In
Sweden the pay gap is only 1 percent lower than here in Ireland and Sweden has
universal, State subsidised and affordable daycare.

A more
important reason for the pay gap in Ireland, as elsewhere, is that many more
women than men choose to work in part-time jobs. (See note two
below).

The 17
percent average pay gap for the EU compares hourly rates for men and women so in
a sense the fact that more women work part-time is removed from the
picture.

However,
in reality it is still a big part of the explanation because the average woman
who works part-time is likely to be earning less per hour than the average man
who works full-time because fewer part-time workers are to be found in highly
paid jobs.

International
research shows that on average a fifth of women want to work full-time all their
lives, a fifth would prefer to look after their children at home full-time, and
the remainder want something in between. (See note three below).

Irish
policy in regard to women, home and work should be aimed at facilitating all
choices, and not merely the choice to work full-time.

Social
policy cannot be aimed simply at the fifth of women who want to work full-time.
It must facilitate all women.

ENDS

Notes
to Editors

1. 
The
Iona Institute is a pro-marriage organisation.

2. 
According
to Women and Men in Ireland, released by the CSO in 2011, 39,600 men worked less
than 20 hours per week compared with 128,200 women.

3. 
These
figures are based on an analysis of research conducted by Dr Catherine Hakim of
the London School of Economics

4. 
Last
year The Iona Institute hosted a conference called ‘Women, Home and Work:
Towards a policy that’s fair to all women’ at which Dr Hakim was the keynote
speaker