While the historic repeal vote in 2018 signalled a changed Ireland, gender inequality remains a major issue.
At home, women are still assuming the majority of the caring and household tasks, while in the workforce women earn 14 percent less than their male counterparts. 90 percent of our readers told us that they don’t think the government is doing enough to tackle gender wage inequality.
We asked women in Ireland to share their experiences with us using the hashtag #AWomanInIreland. Sexism, sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, financial stresses and childcare were all issues raised by women. One woman said that the men she worked with were resentful that she got an in-work assignment with one making a derogatory comment.
Interviewed for a work assignment alongside all men. After I was successful I was asked by a man , at a canteen table full of men,
“Who did you blow to get that?”#AWomanInIreland— Vonny (@VonnyR7) April 15, 2019
Work and childcare is another key issue. A mum of two had to leave a job she loved as she couldn’t afford to work and pay childcare. She was even offered a promotion and a higher wage but it still didn’t cover the cost of childcare.
I was offered a promotion days after my 2nd baby was born. Even with the pay increase (and a job I loved) I couldn’t afford childcare for 2 kids. I had no choice but to quit. I feel for single parents. They get the shitty end of the stick.
— Sister Unicorn Bonjela (@sisterbonjela) April 15, 2019
Cork woman Orla Burke pointed out that mums who want to work outside the home don’t apply for jobs as they know they won’t be able to afford childcare. Orla says lone parents, who have the second highest rates of poverty in Europe, are in an even worse situation, “left in a poverty trap with no way out”.
Jessie Ginger said that there aren’t many part-time job options available for parents in Ireland and that the high cost of childcare and housing are big issues impacting women, though she acknowledges that these issues also affect men.
onus to work full time with few part time options available, affordability of childcare, prices in Ireland higher than anywhere else, price of housing/rent, stress of healthcare system if you get sick, traffic and lack of public transport and so on*all things that affect men also
— Jessie Ginger (@gingjessie) April 15, 2019
Financial worries are a major factor for a significant number of women. Other issues include the responsibilities of caring or children and elderly relatives, a job which still largely falls to women in Ireland.
Sexism and sexual harassment featured heavily in responses. Anny spoke of collecting money for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and having a man shout at her that it was people “talking about these things” who had “ruined the country”.
Anny says, “for him talking about sex at all was so shameful that he had to shut down other people who had anything to say.” Anny believes that the older generation had a “shame-based” education and that has coloured how they view sex and sexuality.
Collecting for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in a shopping centre and accosted by an older man who shouted at me for quite some time that it was people like me who insisted on talking about ‘these things’ that had ‘ruined the country’ #AWomanInIreland
— Anny Weatherwax (@thedevilyoudont) April 15, 2019
Another woman said that she has experienced sexually suggestive comments while at work and on one occasion she was telling her colleagues that she had been the victim of sexual assault when a man she worked with called her a “whore”.
Gina Murphy says she experienced sexual harassment while at work and was victim blamed when she tried to report the incident. It was only when she reported it to a woman that the incident was taken seriously and dealt with properly.
#AWomanInIreland to have an ex student I barely knew harass me and make sexual advances on me when I was alone in my college studio and get angry at me when I told him NO. When I reported it to my “feminist” lecturer, he asked me if I was leading him and being a tease.
— Gina Murphy (@SoWrongItsGina_) April 15, 2019
