Make firms with over 50 staff publish gender pay discrepancies, says Howlin

Companies with 50 employees or more would have to publish details of the pay discrepancies between male and female workers under proposals from the Labour Party.

The Bill, published today by the party, would force such companies to publish the difference between male and female employees by hourly rates and bonus pay.

It would also force employers to publish details of the number of male and female worker in each of the following pay bands in their company: lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper.

The information would be published once a year.

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Labour leader Brendan Howlin said it is hoped that the disclosure of such information will lead to a closing of a gender pay gap, and said the proposal is based on an existing system in Belgium.

The publication of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill is timed to coincide with International Women’s Week.

Mr Howlin said Ireland "still had some way to go towards achieving full gender equality in the workplace".

“One glaring example of this is in the area of pay, where Irish women earn around 13.9 per cent less than men, according to the most up-to-date EU figures.

“Put another way that equates to women in full time employment working for free for about a month of every year”, he said.

“We have seen legislation prove effective in countries like Belgium, which has a pay gap of just under 7 per cent.”

Limerick TD Jan O'Sullivan said "a range of factors, including the issue of unconscious bias, which contributes to gender inequality in the workplace".

Meanwhile, Senator Ivana Bacik also said the target for women representation state boards should be increased from 40 per cent to 45 per cent.