Women are continuing to earn less than men with new figures putting the gender pay gap at 16 per cent across the European Union.
In a report to mark International Women's Day, the European Commission has compiled a detailed report on equality between women and men in the 28 member states.
Overall it finds progress is being made in tackling gender inequality, but says much more progress is needed to close the gap in areas such as pay and political representation.
The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that women were paid 14 per cent less than men in Ireland in 2014, based on gross hourly earnings. That marked a widening from 12 per cent recorded two years earlier.
On a positive note, the EU employment rate for women reached an all-time high of 66 per cent in 2017.
However, on pay, it says the gender pay gap translates into a pension gap, with men on incomes which are 36 per cent higher than women.
In some countries, more than 10 per cent of older women cannot afford necessary health care. Lower pay and pension rates mean women are at a greater risk of falling into poverty, the report says.
Women also remain largely under-represented in parliaments and government.
Politics
Only six of the 28 national parliaments across the EU are led by a woman and seven out of 10 members of national parliaments in the EU are men.
While the current level of 30 per cent female senior ministers is the highest since data was first available for all EU member states 15 years ago, there is still evidence to suggest that women tend to be allocated portfolios considered to have lower political priority.
In November, women accounted for 36 per cent of the 749 members of the European Parliament.
Finland stands out clearly with 77 per cent of MEPs being women, while Ireland is among a group of seven member states with at least 40 per cent of each gender.
Vera Jourová, commissioner for gender equality, said it was clear that women were still significantly underrepresented in politics across the EU and in European institutions.
“I want to see more women running for election. We should lead by example: I call on member states to present more female candidates as future European commissioners.”
The glass-ceiling also remains a reality in the business world with only 6 per cent of chief executive positions in major publicly listed companies in the EU held by women.
