The report on women returning to work published this week by the Economic and Social Research Institute reaffirms what is already widely known - women with children remain seriously disadvantaged in the labour market.
But this disadvantage is not evenly spread. The study also suggests that those most likely to stop working in order to bring up their children are those in lower-skilled jobs, with lower levels of education and training. Two-thirds of those deciding later to return to work did not have their Leaving Certificate. When they attempted to return they found themselves working in even less skilled areas, with lower pay and little chance of advancement, and 71 per cent of them did so on a part-time basis in order to accommodate their family responsibilities.
The corollary of this is that well-educated women in better-paid jobs are less likely to stop working, or can benefit from the career breaks that are available in the public sector and with some of the bigger private employers. They need substantial salaries to afford childcare, recently estimated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as costing between €4.77 and €5.21 an hour.
Another advantage enjoyed by higher-earning women is the recent individualisation of the tax system. This means that a working couple earning €40,000 has a tax advantage of €1,345 over a one-income family. However, this gap between one and two income families is €3,435 where the total earned is €70,000. €3,435 a year would go some way towards the cost of child-care, while €1,345 would be little help.
The ESRI report identifies the availability of affordable childcare as one of the greatest obstacles to women returning to work. The Government has chosen to tackle this by offering supports to the private and community sector in providing childcare.
In 2001 much of the allocated money was unspent, and doubts were expressed by one of the authors of the report that the targets would be met by 2006. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform pointed out that 2001 was only the first year of a six-year plan, and the unspent money was still available.
But given the slow rate of progress to date, the fact that the cost of childcare in Ireland is among the highest in Europe, and that women returning to work are already financially and educationally disadvantaged, it may well be time for the Government to rethink its policy on childcare provision.