30 November 2014
POLITICS
Also in this section:
Garda abuse 32
Ellen Brown interview 33
1984 returns? 34
Equality Tribunal 36
Gerald Kean in Cork 37
Gender-pay-gap
issue relegated as
budget prioritises
male, and high,
earners.
By Orla O’Connor
14.4%
November 2014 31
T
HE National Women’s Council of
Ireland (NWCI) has campaigned for
a gender budgeting approach to be
implemented by Government. This would
mean that all budgetary measures were
assessed for their impact on men and
women. We would have got a very different
budget had this been done.
A recent ESRI and Equality Authority
study highlighted the greater loss of income
for women in comparison to men over the
years of the economic crises. It provides
hard evidence that women have suffered
more under austerity. Women in couples
suffered a 14% loss in income levels com-
pared to 9% for men, and this gap widened
further for those on lower incomes. The
tools are there for gender budgeting but
Government has refused to apply them and
this is the outcome.
The NWCI has continually highlighted
that those on the lowest incomes have
shouldered greater losses and contrib-
uted a higher proportion of their income in
direct and indirect taxes over the economic
crisis. Rather than a squeezed middle, we
have an increasingly hard-pressed majority
with over 50% of all households relying on
some form of social transfer to keep them
way from the risk of poverty. Women and
children have been hammered by these
austerity measures, consistently bearing
the brunt of reduced income and cuts to
services.
Budget 2015 provided the opportu-
nity to begin to reverse these trends. The
Government chose not to, and introduced
a pre-election Budget aimed at voters on
higher incomes. The cut in the top rate of
tax to 40% was unnecessary, and there
had been no popular demand for it. The
changes introduced to income tax and the
USC left workers with incomes of €33,800
to €70,000 effectively unchanged, but the
greatest gain went to those with incomes of
€70,000 or more. In addition any increases
to incomes for the low paid in Budget 2015
are negated by the impact of increased
property and water taxes, on families.
Small gains were made. The five-euro
increase in child benefit is a partial rec-
ognition of the cost of living increases
for families. The NWCI had called for
an increase in the lead up to the Budget.
However, this measure, worth approxi-
mately €70 million, does not offset cuts to
the payment which amount to over €400
million since 2009.
Changes to social welfare in Budget 2015
will have a particular impact on women.
Women are more likely to be in low-paid,
precarious work, and their income is more
likely to have dropped during the reces-
sion. The extension of the allowance for
child dependants for the first months of
employment represents a partial recogni-
tion of the poverty trap that exists in the
transition between welfare and work for
many women. However, it does not address
the issue of those trapped in such precari-
ous work. Incentives for employment in this
Budget should have been designed to deliver
quality jobs.
The NWCI had called for an increase to
the minimum wage. This would recognise
increases in the cost of living and address
low pay. It would also have a
direct impact on reducing the
gender pay gap that stands
at approximately 14.4%
(according to the CSO in 2013
– the European Commision
figure is somewhat lower. See
graphic opposite). A Low Pay
Commission was announced
in the Budget. This has the
potential to deliver reform and
increased living standards for
those on low pay. However, it
must deliver real and quick
change in determining a
decent standard of pay for all
that is relative in some way to
those on high incomes.
The increase in the living-
alone allowance is significant
for older women. The ending
of the pension levy, however,
does not address the ongoing
inequality in private-pen-
sion tax relief for high income
earners. It merely takes us
further from badly needed
pension reform. In addition,
changes to the contributory
pension bands, which have
hit women the hardest, were
not reversed.
The ESRI and the Equality Authority have
shown that Budgets are not gender neutral.
Once again we are witnessing a Budget that
has given priority to higher earners and pre-
dominantly male earners. This shows how
those in power have failed to learn from our
past economic mistakes about the negative
impact of economic and gender inequality
on our society. •
Orla O’Connor is Director of the National
Women’s Council of Ireland.
Increases to
incomes for
the low paid
negated by
the impact
of increased
property and
water taxes,
on families.
Child-benefit
increase of
€70m offset
by cuts of over
€400m since
2009
“

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