International Equal Pay Day - What does it mean for the Community and Voluntary Sector?

Today, 18th September is International Equal Pay Day, representing ‘the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value. It further builds on the United Nations' commitment to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.’

In 2021, Ireland passed the Gender Pay Gap Information Act. This Act initially mandated GPG reporting for organisations with over 250 staff. In 2024, this threshold has been reduced to 150 staff. The aim of the Act is to improve transparency in organisations and move towards greater equality in employment conditions. But how is the Community and Voluntary sector doing?

In 2023, The Wheel published its latest Gender Pay Gap (GPG) Report, examining the wage disparity between men and women in Ireland's Community and Voluntary sector. This report, produced with the support of Community Foundation Ireland, provides valuable data on gender pay inequality, particularly among senior management, and offers insights into the contributing factors and actions taken to address the gap.

The Gender Pay Gap for Managers in the Community, Voluntary, and Charities Sector

In analysis covering 1,138 senior staff, the Report found that despite women accounting for 68% at senior levels, they are disproportionately underrepresented at the highest levels. While 60% of Chief Executives are women, males are proportionately more likely to hold senior positions. For instance, 29% of males are in top roles compared to only 20% of females.

The overall average GPG for managers in this sector is 5.69%, while the median is 6.38%. Although the gap has decreased from 16.7% in 2017 to 5.69% in 2022, it remains highest at the Chief Executive level, where the average GPG is 9.87% and the median is 12.79%.

The GPG varies significantly by the size and income level of organisations. The gap is higher in larger organisations with 100 or more employees. The median GPG is highest in small organisations with 1-2 employees and significantly decreases in larger ones.

Although female representation in the top 10% of earners has improved (from 50% in 2017 to 54% in 2022), women are still underrepresented at the highest levels of pay, while being overrepresented in the lowest quartile, with an average of 77% of all female managers in the Lower Quartile range. Notably, 68% of the bottom decile of Chief Executive (Level I positions) are female, illustrating a persistent pay inequality at senior levels.

Applying the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021

Of the respondent organisations to the survey, 30 met the Gender Pay Gap Information threshold of 250 staff. The overall average GPG for these 30 organisations was 3.8%, with a median of 0.1%. However, the gap varies widely across organisations, with the average ranging from -16.9% to 22.6%. Nine organisations reported a negative GPG, indicating that women earned more than men in these cases.

Part-time workers in these organisations tend to have a negative GPG, meaning that women in part-time roles often earn more than men. This data should, however, be interpreted in the context of the high proportion of female workers in the sector.

Conversely, the average GPG for temporary employees is low but positive at 1.7%.

As with the general sample, female employees are underrepresented in the upper quartile of pay bands and overrepresented in the lower quartile in these 30 organisations, reflecting broader trends in the sector where women are concentrated in lower-paid roles, even though they constitute the majority of employees.

Causes of the Gender Pay Gap

In addition to requesting information on pay and benefits, survey respondents with 250 staff or more were asked to provide their views on factors which contributed to their GPG. The following is a summary of responses given across the 30 organisations:

• Occupational Segregation: Women are overrepresented in lower-paid roles, such as nursing and childcare, while men tend to occupy higher-paid, office-based roles. This gendering of roles contributes significantly to the GPG.
• Working Patterns: Women are more likely to work part-time or take career breaks to fulfil family responsibilities. This reduces their career progression opportunities, leading to lower pay compared to men who have uninterrupted careers.
• Underrepresentation of Women Applying for Senior Roles: Women are less likely to apply for higher-paid positions due to various barriers, including domestic responsibilities and lack of access to education or training.
• Length of Service: Women who take breaks for caregiving often have fewer years of experience than their male counterparts, contributing to lower pay.

These observations are consistent with international research referred to in the report.

Addressing the Gender Pay Gap

Having provided their views on the barriers to equal pay and conditions, survey participants from the 30 organisations with reporting duties under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act, 2021 were asked to highlight practices that could, in their view, help close the gap:

• Recruitment Practices: Organisations are revising recruitment processes to remove biases and ensure gender-neutral job advertisements. Some are introducing unconscious bias training for staff and recruiters.
• Pay and Progression Policies: Some organisations are adopting pay transparency and objective succession planning to ensure equal pay opportunities. Others eliminating pay negotiations to ensure equality.
• Leadership Development for Women: To address underrepresentation at senior levels, some organisations are offering leadership programs for women and ensuring diverse participation in mentorship programs.
• Improving Family Leave Benefits: Organisations are offering enhanced maternity, paternity, and parental leave benefits to support work-life balance and reduce career breaks for women.
• Flexible Working: Several organisations have introduced flexible and hybrid working models to make it easier for women to balance work and family life.
• Organisations are also engaging more with sector peers, staff, and resourcing data analytics for internal goal-setting on GPG reporting.

Significant Gap

There is a significant gender pay disparity within Ireland's Community and Voluntary sector, despite some progress in reducing the gap. Women continue to be underrepresented in higher-paid roles and overrepresented in lower-paid ones. The report emphasises that addressing the GPG requires coordinated efforts across recruitment, pay transparency, leadership development, and flexible working policies. Additionally, broader societal changes, such as affordable childcare and gender-neutral work practices, are necessary to achieve long-term gender pay equality.