It's International Women's Day this Sunday, March 8th, but the latest research reveals that Irish women have little to be celebrating in terms of improvements in our working lives.
Women in Ireland earn 14.4% less than men, almost a sixth less per hour, according to the latest report from Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics body.
Childbearing, career breaks and taking part-time work due to family pressures are said to be the leading contributors to the pay gap, which has widened significantly from 12.6% in 2008.
In 2013, the gender pay gap stood at 16.4% in the European Union (EU), ranging from less than 5% in Slovenia to more than 20% in Estonia, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany.
Despite representing 46% of employed persons, women were under-represented amongst managers, with only a third being female in 2013 in the EU. Two out of every three managers are men, while women were over-represented among clerical support workers as well as among service and sales workers, accounting for around two-thirds of employed persons in these occupations.
In Ireland, while accounting for 46% of employed persons, 80% of clerical workers are women.
Read the full EuroStat report here.
