Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1988 > Committee on Women's Rights (2nd Committee) > Report No. 02 - Changing Attitudes to the Role of Women in Ireland Issues Related to Equal Employment Opportunity

REPORT

Changing Attitudes to the Role of Women in Ireland Issues relating to Equal Employment Opportunity

1.The Joint Committee on Women’s Rights present in the Appendix to this Report the second part of a research study by Dr. Margret Fine-Davis, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Dublin, on Issues related to Equal Employment Opportunity.

2.This report should be read in conjunction with the First Report issued by the Joint Committee in May, 1988 (Pl. 5069) dealing with Attitudes towards the Role and Status of Women, 1975 - 1986.

3.The Joint Committee note that, despite the implementation of anti-discrimination legislation since 1975 women became increasingly likely to report discrimination in the workplace and by the educational system between 1975 and 1986. Employed Dublin women, both married and single, felt that there was more discrimination in getting a job and married women reported a good deal more discrimination in obtaining promotion at work.

4.In relation to the educational system, whereas 18% of employed women in Dublin were aware of some degree of discrimination in this area in 1975, the figure rose to 47% in 1986. This increase was the most significant trend in women’s perceptions of discrimination over the period.

5.The Joint Committee agree with Dr. Fine-Davis that it is unlikely that the level of discrimination actually increased between 1975 and 1986. Nevertheless, it is clear that the level of perceived discrimination has increased. This may be the case because the issue of discrimination is being more openly debated as a result of the activities of women’s organisations, trade unions and the media. In this regard the outstanding work of the Employment Equality Agency, in pursuing cases of discrimination has been an important factor, and the activities of the Joint Committee on Women’s Rights have also played an important part.

6.Since 1975, beginning with the UN Decade for Women, women’s affairs have merited attention in their own right at government level and women in politics and particularly in government have played a highly significant role in furthering the cause of women in general.

7.The First Joint Committee issued a report on Education (Pl. 2671) in October 1984. The recommendations in that Report were aimed at making available to girls, on the basis of non-discrimination, a broadly based curriculum, with opportunities equal to those available to boys, to pursue whatever courses they found most suitable to their talents and abilities.

8.If changes are not made in the educational system to bring this about there will be a growing climate of frustration among girls. As it is, Dr. Fine-Davis’s study shows that an element of frustration and discontent is spilling over into the workplace as women see that a lack of earlier educational opportunities is restricting their role and their ability to advance their working career.

9.In this regard the Joint Committee has initiated a study which should show the extent to which the recommendations made in the Report on Education have been adopted and the extent to which barriers of one kind or another are standing in the way of such adoption. It is hoped that this study will pinpoint the areas where further pressure is necessary to ensure that discriminatory aspects of the educational system are eliminated or, at least, are modified to such an extent as to be insignificant.

10.Even though most women recognise that discrimination exists, they seem to be less aware of it in relation to themselves. Dr. Fine-Davis points out that the most likely reasons for this phenomenon are (a) the fact that many women work in what is largely single-sex employment with little scope for assessing the terms and conditions a man would be offered if he were doing the job and (b) the tendency for women to deny the extent to which they are discriminated against.

11.The Joint Committee accept that women are discriminated against en masse in employments where they are employed on terms and conditions which are inferior to those which men would receive if they were engaged in the same employment.

12.The members of the Joint Committee were particularly struck by the revelation that women seem to find it more comfortable to deny their own experience of discrimination rather than to do anything constructive about it. The implications of this will be looked at more fully when the Joint Committee come to examine the general question of women at work - see paragraph 18.

13.Continued public debate in this area will, it is hoped, receive an impetus from the publication of this report and encourage women to increase their awareness of discrimination. They should not accept it passively even if taking steps to assert their rights requires a cost in time and effort. The stress on the individual can be lightened if her case is taken up by her trade union or by the Employment Equality Agency. In this regard the government should ensure that adequate resources are available to the Employment Equality Agency to enable it to pursue all cases of discrimination so as to ensure a successful final outcome.

14.Employed women are less likely than other groups to regard as obstacles to their achievement in work such factors as

(a) attitudes of management favouring promotion of men;

(b) the lack of flexible hours; and

(c) the lack of household help or child care.

15.Dr. Fine Davis suggests that this is because in the present climate of recession and high unemployment women do not feel that they deserve special consideration. The result is that married women are not pressing for facilities such as flexible working hours and child care facilities which would enable them to fulfil the dual role of worker and wife/mother. The Joint Committee accept that the lack of these facilities is a major obstacle to women’s career advancement.

16.The Joint Committee accept the principle that women are entitled to work which is flexible and accommodating to their needs, since the dual roles which they perform are in the interests of society as a whole.

17.Moreover, a tremendous economic loss results from keeping talented women in dead-end jobs from which there is no escape. It is as much in the employer’s interest as that of the employee that avenues of promotion be opened up and adequate training be made available to those who wish to benefit from it. As well as obtaining a more contented workforce an organisation will be able to benefit to the full from the talents and experience of all its employees.

18.This and other aspects already mentioned will be considered in greater depth in a comprehensive report which the Joint Committee propose to issue later this year on women at work. This report will also cover the manner in which a woman’s position in an organisation is affected by management attitudes. Before making any recommendations in the matter the Joint Committee propose to make a more detailed examination of the whole situation. Evidence from interested parties will help in forming a clear picture.

19.Dr. Fine Davis’s study indicates that a greater number of people favour the extension of shopping hours and banking hours. In response to public demand and commercial considerations shopping hours have become more flexible in many areas. While the opening hours of the major banks leave much to be desired some progress has been made in catering for public needs by the availability of automatic teller machines.

20.There is also growing support for the extension of hours of opening of public offices. The number of households in which both spouses work is likely to increase and changes will have to be made in the opening hours of public offices, which deal with matters closely affecting the public. It should not be necessary for working spouses to get time off in order to visit public offices to seek advice on questions affect themselves or their families.

21.The Joint Committee are not convinced that lunch-time opening of public offices, where it exists, is adequate to meet public demand. They recommend therefore that provision be made for the late opening of public offices, dealing with services which affect the public closely, on one or two evenings per week.

22.In the meantime, they welcome constructive comment on this Report and on any of the aspects of women at work referred to in it. Any views submitted will be carefully considered by the Joint Committee in formulating their recommendations on women at work at a later date.

Approved by the Joint Committee on 2nd June, 1988.

Monica Barnes, T.D.

Chairwoman.

3 June, 1988.