In the Irish workplace, only 16pc of men feel that women are not paid equally to their male counterparts, compared with 53pc of women surveyed globally, new research suggests.
The survey, undertaken by recruiter Hays, asked 6,000 people across the world – 645 of which were in Ireland – a number of questions related to equality in the workplace between both genders in terms of pay and career advancement opportunities.
The figure of 16pc is less than the worldwide average, which shows 18pc of men feel that women and men are not paid equally.
However, the average percentage of women who feel the same way is less than in Ireland, coming in at 46pc.
In terms of opportunities available for career advancement, again 54pc of Irish women were found to be less optimistic about their chances of progression, compared with 22pc of men who feel both genders are not on an equal footing.
What can be done to change this?
When posed the question of how these major shortcomings could be addressed, just fewer than half of respondents (50pc) said more flexible working practices would have the biggest impact on improving gender diversity in their workplace.
Other highly rated suggestions include changes to workplace culture through education across the business (42pc), highlighting female role models (34pc), changes to organisational policy (27pc), changes to government policy (27pc) and better board backing for diversity issues (20pc).
However, only a minority (12pc) were in favour of imposing gender quotas on the workplace, something which happened last week with the German government passing a resolution to have 100 of the country’s top companies have 30pc of their executive board made up of women.
Maureen Lynch, director at Hays Ireland, said, “Our survey shows there is a major disparity between the views of men and women when it comes to equal pay and equal opportunities.”
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Unequal pay image via Shutterstock
