Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is very welcome and long overdue. I very much agree with the Minister that this legislation should have been here before now.

Fianna Fáil, in opposition, supported this Bill and now we are in government we are delighted to work as part of a fair economy and a fairer society. A key part of that will be continuing to eradicate the gender pay gap, to hold companies accountable and to highlight the companies that do a good job.

Gender pay equality is a concept that is often misunderstood and it has been for a long time. It has been defined as a percentage difference between the average gross hourly earning for women and men. We all have become aware of the line of equal pay for equal work, which is the basis for this Bill.

The gender pay gap is now a well-known phenomenon, which is receiving increasing attention in Ireland and internationally. I congratulate my colleague and fellow Senator, Lorraine Clifford-Lee, on establishing the first all-party Oireachtas committee on gender pay inequality. I am glad to be a member of the committee and during this term we are working to change the so-called traditional view of female participation in the labour force. The WorkEqual campaign led by Sonya Lennon has done incredible work and continues to highlight gender issues concerning women gaining fair and decent work.

The Bill goes some way to ensuring that we, as a country, treat people of all genders equally and it will, for the first time, will provide for a structured and steady flow of information on what is happening in individual businesses. The amendments agreed by the Cabinet on 30 April will mean that Departments and agencies will have to report on their own gender pay gap and establish a stronger enforcement role for IHREC. I ask the Minister to extend this concept not within this Bill but in other areas where public bodies, Departments and organisations would have to highlight whether they have a diverse workforce and who we, as a State, are hiring to ensure that we have more diversity in our State-funded bodies.

The Minister has outlined that the Bill will require the phased introduction of pay gap reporting for any employer with more than 15 employees. Employers will be required to report the percentage, mean and median pay gap between men and women in terms of hourly pay for both full-time and part-time employees, as well as bonus pay. Employers will also report the proportion of male and female employees who receive bonuses or benefits-in-kind.

Today, I must address the bigger overall issue of how we, as women, or we, as a society, work. In general, workplaces have been created by men for men and what is so-called normal needs to change. Society is changing and what society wants is evolving. One silver lining from Covid is how the concept of a work-life balance has changed. It is no longer necessary for employees to be in an office. Work is more about productivity and results than the inflexible so-called norms of working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There are now more women in third-level education and those who have attained excellent qualifications only for the State to put in place barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the workplace. I was one of those women. I have three degrees and good enough work experience but after I had children, I had to weigh up the cost benefit of returning to work. For me, the high cost of childcare was the issue. Why would I work for little or no financial benefit yet have so much stress on my family? Thankfully, we cut our cloth to suit and I stayed at home. However, when I wanted to go back to work the lack of valuable part-time work that suited me and was flexible enough for me to care for my four children was very difficult to find. The irony is that I now have one of the most least family-friendly jobs.This gap in my employment history raises another issue, which is one I share with many of my female friends, namely, not having a pension. I do not have a pension and I am not unusual. This is going to have a huge a long-term effect. Unfortunately, many women have poverty to look forward to in their retirement. If we want to create and operate a society with a fair economy, we must benefit everybody within it. More women in the workplace is better for everyone. Diversity provides an economic win. Studies have shown the financial performance of firms improves with more gender-equal corporate boards. This is because women and men bring different skills and perspectives to the workplace, including different attitudes to risk and collaboration. It is known that this results in higher productivity and even higher wages for everybody.

As someone once said, "a lot done, more to do". This is a step along the way. There is so much to do, be it in relation to childcare, the constitutional amendments highlighted by the Citizens' Assembly regarding the value we as a country place on carers and the so-called care economy or the gender balance on State and corporate boards and in our universities and schools. I am rehashing other debates we have had on gender equality but we must get more women involved in politics and leadership roles. I have seen a huge difference in the conversation between previous Seanaid and this one because we have 40% women in this Seanad. I generally believe in 50:50 gender quotas because we will never have an equal society if we do not have gender equality in the Government and among those who create policy. If we do not have an equitable make-up among policymakers, we will never have an equitable country.

I very much welcome this Bill. I look forward to seeing more progressive and positive changes for a fairer economy and diverse labour force in the time ahead.