Three decades after the introduction of equal pay legislation, the average pay of women in Ireland continues to be significantly below that of men.
Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the introduction of equal pay for equal work, after the European Commission refused to allow Ireland a derogation from the Equal Pay Directive.
The directive, introduced in 1975, meant that women and men must be paid the same rates for the same jobs. Prior to May 5th, 1976, Irish women teachers, for example, were paid 25 per cent less than their male colleagues. The government of the time had resisted the legislation on economic grounds.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, however, says the continuing gender pay gap is one of its priority issues at the current national pay talks.
Irish women on average are paid 16 per cent less than men, and a study, Degrees of Equality: Gender Pay Differentials Among Recent Graduates, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) last November, found pay gaps between the sexes opened within three years of graduation. The biggest gap was in public administration, where the hourly wage for men was €17.78 and €15.51 for women.
