Gender inequality rife, Ictu told

Sexual discrimination in pay and promotion is widespread in Ireland, a trade union conference heard today.

Speaking at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) biennial conference in Donegal, vice president Rosheen Callender said many people were under the misapprehension that gender inequality was a thing of the past.

"Despite all the hard work of trade unionists over recent decades, we are still not even accurately measuring the extent of gender inequality in Ireland - never mind removing it."

She said the pay gap between men and women was 25 per cent when the first European directive on equal pay was adopted in this State and that, 30 years later, it is still about 15 per cent.

"Not only is this pace of change unacceptably slow, but the method of measuring the gap is itself in need of radical review, if it is to properly reflect the true extent of gender inequality that persists".

She suggested a more instructive method of assessing inequality would be to measure pensions as well as pay

"This might reveal the cumulative effects of women's lower pay during most of their working lives and their poorer promotional prospects which is often due to absences from the workforce during child-bearing and child-rearing years.

Ms Callender was addressing around 600 delegates at the start of a four-day conference in Bundoran, with the primary focus on equality in the workplace.

The conference is due to be addressed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern tomorrow. Representing almost 820,000 workers across the State, Ictu members will debate over 70 motions on issues affect both working life and quality of life.