New calls for paid parental leave

Calls for the introduction of paid paternity and parental leave have been renewed following the publication of a report showing women still do the bulk of unpaid care and housework despite their increased participation in the paid labour force.

The report, Gender Inequalities in Time Use, jointly published today by the Equality Authority and the ESRI, shows women work on average 39 minutes per day more than men when paid and unpaid work are taken into account. The authors examined time diaries from just over 1,000 men and women, aged 18 to 97, kept for four months in 2005 as part of the National Time Use survey.

Differences become more pronounced when couples have children, with employed women spending an average of two hours and 47 minutes a day on childcare while employed men spend an average of 40 minutes caring for children.

Presenting the report, co-author Dr Frances McGinity of the ESRI, said care work was ¿undervalued¿ and there was a ¿taken for grantedness¿ about it. While women¿s participation in the formal labour market has increased from about 40 per cent of women in 1993 to 60 per cent in 2004, their share of the unpaid work has not decreased proportionately.

Women in couples do about 74 per cent of the unpaid work, 35 per cent of the paid work, and 55 per cent of the total. ¿So, women in dual-earner couples still do much more of the housework than their male partners,¿ said Dr McGinity. ¿Domestic practices are lagging behind labour market changes.¿

She said the unequal burden of unpaid work on women meant they earned less than the average man, were less free to pursue careers and had less free-time. This had implications for women¿s pensions, power within the home, status in society and quality of life, she said.

Niall Crowley, Chief Executive Officer of the Equality Authority, said the report revealed a ¿situation of disadvantage and inequality for women - a situation that also contributes to inequalities for women in the public sphere. This poses a significant challenge to men and to the choices made by men. It also poses a challenge to policy makers.¿

Three main policy implications emerged he said.

Statutory leave entitlements needed to be reviewed to ensure they didn¿t exacerbate inequalities within the home.

¿Paid paternity leave and paid parental leave need to be introduced to ensure a take up by men....and to stimulate a greater involvement by men in caring and household work.¿

He called for the development of equality legislation requiring employers to accommodate the needs of those with caring responsibilities, and for the introduction of statutory support for childcare.

Director of the National Women¿s Council, Joanna McMinn, called for all different types of caring to be recorded in the census.

¿Caring needs to be named and valued,¿ she said. The aim of policy makers must be that there is equal participation of men and women in both paid and unpaid work. She also called for paid paternity and parental leave.

A spokesman for the Minister for Justice said the level of paternity and maternity leave was being reviewed and this process would be completed before the end of the year.