Press release from
The Iona Institute

New Household Survey
shows that gender pay gap

is result of many women’s choice to work
part-time

March 7,
2012 – Data
contained in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey released today by
the CSO confirm that the gender pay gap is mostly the result of many women
choosing to work part-time.

The figures show that over a
third of Irish working women work part-time as against only 12 percent of
men.

In addition, they show
that 73 percent of women who work part-time want to work part-time. In
other words, they are not seeking full-time work. (See Table 1a of today’s
National Household Survey).

Figures released by the
European Commission last week show that on average women in Ireland earn 17
percent less than men. This is in line with the EU average and is only one
percent less than the Swedish figure despite the fact that Sweden has easily
available, State-subsidised day-care which is often touted as the answer to the
pay gap.

In Sweden as in Ireland, a
major reason for the gender pay gap is the fact that so many Swedish women
choose to work part-time.

Therefore, the only way to
reduce the gender pay gap to zero would be to close off the option of part-time
work which would be impossible to achieve and also against the wishes of huge
numbers of women.

In other words, beyond a
certain point, efforts to further close the gender pay gap are both impractical
and against the choices many women make.

Policy-makers must keep this
in mind when examining this issue.

ENDS