If we do nothing, the Gender Pay Gap will increase

Published: Thursday, November 23, 2017

Women from the Arts and Media will come together at NWCI’s event #NoSmallChange – Closing the Gender Pay Gap in the Media and in the Arts in the Mansion House today where NWCI will launch its Action Plan on the Gender Pay Gap. Chaired by RTE’s Political Correspondent, Martina Fitzgerald, the event follows Kieran Mulvey’s report into the gender pay gap in RTE earlier this year and the public consultation of the Department of Justice on this issue.

Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,

“The Gender Pay Gap is not only a persistent issue for women’s equality, it has also been widening over the last number of years, currently standing at 13.9 %. If we do nothing, the Gender Pay Gap is likely to increase even more. The Government must and can take urgent action now to work towards closing the Gender Pay Gap.  NWCI is calling on the Government to introduce legislation that obliges companies to publish pay information broken down by gender. Another area where the Government should take action is in relation to quotas for the boards of private companies. Good practice from other countries such as Norway highlight the positive impact of quotas not only on increasing women in leadership position but on the performance of companies overall.”

Orla O’Connor continued,

“We must also look at addressing wider inequalities for women that feed into the Gender Pay Gap, such as the high proportion of women working in low paid sectors, such as retail, childcare or the hospitality sector. Aligning the minimum wage with the living wage, strengthening regulation of precarious work and investing into affordable, accessible, quality  childcare will all positively impact greater pay equality between women and men.”

Orla O’Connor concluded,

“We also know that closing the Gender Pay Gap will require a sectoral approach, where we look at the specific issues in a particular area of work and work to address these. Tonight, we are starting with a conversation about the Media and the Arts and we hope to have more of these discussions for other sectors in 2018.”

Speaking at the event were also Emma O’Kelly, Chair of the National Union of Journalists Dublin Broadcasting Branch, Sarah Durcan, Board Member of the Abbey Theatre, Ivana Bacik, Senator, and Ellen O'Malley Dunlop, Chairperson, NWCI. The event was chaired by Martina Fitzgerald, RTE Political Correspondent.

NWCI’s Action Plan – No Small Change is available on http://www.nwci.ie/index.php/learn/publications/

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For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, NWCI, Tel. 085 858 9104.