Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as teacht isteach. I thank him profoundly for all his work done since last July on many issues on inequality in different guises. This Bill is very welcome. I know the Minister is only getting started and is not going to nail everything in one Bill, which would be impossible. The programme for Government committed to legislating for the requirement of the publication of the gender pay gap in large companies and this Bill fulfils that commitment, so I thank him for that. We can tick it off the long list in our programme for Government.

The gender pay gap is not equal pay for equal work, that is not what this Bill is about. There is much confusion in the media and certain sections of society over what this is about. It is not a simple task of paying women the same as men. The question of why we have more women in lower income jobs than men must be answered. We have fewer women in senior and high earning roles. We need employers to ask themselves why that is. With or without any Bill, why are we here today, in 2021, having to pass such a Bill? We must challenge everyone, including certain Members of the House in the way they have spoken, to ask ourselves whether we have gender stereotypes. Do we have them throughout society, in schools, the media, advertising, in our minds? Statistically, men apply for jobs they feel underqualified for more than women do. Why is that?

Of course, we must improve conditions for the care sector and value parents who chose to stay at home more, both fathers and mothers. It often seems women must work harder to be appreciated in their job. Even then, they can be seen as overeager or getting too big for their boots, while men, if they have charisma and charm, can often get away with not being as hard working. We must encourage employers to tackle bias in recruitment, promotion and pay. Going deeper, we have much work to do in understanding why so many roles are gender specific. Why are there far more women in caring roles, such as teaching, nursing and stay-at-home parenting? I do not think it is fair to say that women care more than men, yet we seem to be the ones doing most of those caring roles. Why are there many more men in cerebral roles, roles which are seen as academic? I did a degree in maths, physics and computers and I was one of the only women in the place. I was often told that I was grand, the lads would sort out the project, and that I should just sit and look pretty, that sort of thing, or shift one of the lads. There is much more going on than what this Bill is dealing with, but we must look at the cause of the Bill.

Parents also have a role to play, as do toyshops, kids clothes designers and everyone else. There are significant specific issues. I was at a child’s birthday party recently where there were gender specific lucky bags. There are gender specific lucky bags, clothes, toys, scooters and even bikes for children. It is ridiculous. It drives me insane to see that it seems to have become worse. Some 19 years ago, I took my son to a large toyshop for his first and last time. There was a cerise pink aisle with all the dolls, babies and pink stuff, and then there was the war and sports aisle, with the camouflage and blue for the boys. That was 19 years ago. I cannot imagine what it is like now. I decided that day that I would not go into one of those places again. For someone who is sporty and into wearing sporty clothes, I found it completely maddening. Recently, I brought my ten-year-old niece on a shopping trip, but we could not find anything for her because she was like me, she was sporty. Everything had sequins and frills which she was not into. We do children a disservice that this is still going on in this day and age. We must push back on the private and public sector.

It is not specific to men. Sexism is rife among all of us. I remember going to Calais with 53 volunteers, one of whom was really glamorous. I was thinking "Oh my god, she will be mother useless". She was by far the best. She stopped wearing make-up, rolled up the jeans and the sleeves and got stuck in. I learned from that experience that we have a deep sexism coming from the patriarchy and previous generations which we must check ourselves on. I often find through my experience in environmental, activist and lefty movements, that I experience sexism there as well. I might make a valid point and the male facilitator would not hear me. Then a man would come on, make the exact same point and would get huge validation for it. It is there and it is everywhere. We must realise that we have it within ourselves as well.

One has the stay-at-some dads. They are also, in some ways, undermined or seen as being less as men. One can have the case of the father of a child who never turns up or pays any maintenance of any kind, rocks up once on the school sports day, and all the women think he is amazing.The standards have to be equal. All we want is equality. We are not saying that we are better, smarter, more caring or anything. It is just a matter of equality. In 2021, it is embarrassing that we have to have this legislation, but I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for bringing it in. I think Senator Clifford-Lee for her work since 2016. I thank Senator Bacik and the Labour Party. I do not want to be embarrassed any more living in the State and I look forward to further legislation getting rid of this ridiculous situation.