Equal Pay For Equal Work?

The UK Government has published draft regulations which propose to introduce mandatory gender pay gap reporting. Similar ideas have recently been floated in Ireland.

Equal pay for equal work is one of the European Union's founding principles, embedded in the Treaties since 1957. While some advances have been made in recent years, gender pay inequality still exists in Ireland. The latest data from Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics body, reveal that Irish women earn almost 14.4% less than Irish men for their work.

Why the gap?

There are various reasons for the existence and extent of a gender pay gap. They include:

• The type of jobs held by women and the sector in which they work;