The Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality (the Assembly) will meet remotely tomorrow (Saturday November 14) to discuss the topic of work. This will be the first of two meetings for the 100 members of the Assembly to examine this topic.
The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting (full agenda set out below) looks at areas such as work, the gender pay gap and career advancement. The planned December meeting of the Assembly will look at welfare, pensions and parental leave. The 100 members are meeting remotely and will receive video presentations, hold private roundtable discussions and publicly present feedback on their deliberations. Among the presentations to the citizens to assist in their deliberations and discussions tomorrow are:
Professor Helen Russell of the ESRI on Gender pay gap: causes and solutions
Professor Damian Grimshaw from King’s College Londonon Country measures to reduce the gender pay gap
Dr. Alicja Bobek, Trinity College Dublin on Experience of working in low paid sectors: gender perspective
Advocacy perspectives from the National Women’s Council, ICTU, IBEC and the Small Firms Association
Personal stories (Avril Hannifin, Suzy Byrne and Mariaam Bhatti) and a summary of the submissions on the topic from the public consultation.
The presentations to the Assembly, as well as feedback summary from the deliberations by the members, will be made available during the day on www.citizensassembly.ie. Due to the remote nature of this meeting the usual live streaming of sessions will not take place, but broadcasts of the public sessions will be made available on the website shortly after they have concluded.
Chairperson of the Assembly, Dr Catherine Day said: “The Oireachtas resolution asks us to identify and dismantle economic and salary norms that result in gender equality and also reassess the economic value placed on the work traditionally held by women. The members will be looking at a variety of areas including the gender pay gap, low pay, minimum wage, occupational segregation, promotions and career advancement. We will also be examining other areas around work and welfare at a second meeting next month.”
Notes to Editor:
Agenda – 14 November – Work, Welfare & Earnings
10.00 Welcome & opening address Catherine Day, Chair (which includes a short video on low paid workers & Icebreaker poll)
Session publicly available with time delay (video available at approx 10.45am)
10.20 Gender Pay Gap: Causes & solutions- presentation by Helen Russell, ESRI
10.35 Q&A with Helen Russell, Frances McGinnity & Karina Doorley, ESRI
Session publicly available with time delay (video available at around 11.20)
10.50 Breakout room discussions Private
Pause for personal experiences video (video 4)
12.00 Lunch break
13.30 Welcome to afternoon session Catherine Day
Remarks publicly available with time delay (video available at around 14.15)
13.35 Country measures to reduce the gender pay gap – presentation by Professor Damian Grimshaw, King’s College London
13.50 Breakout room discussion Private
Pause in discussion for video: Experience of working in low pay sectors – Dr. Alicja Bobek
15.20 Concluding remarks Catherine Day
Publicly available with time delay (video available at around 15.45)
Breakout room feedback video
This will be recorded immediately after the meeting and tweeted out as soon as it is available.
DETAILED PROGRAMME:
Text from resolution
identify and dismantle economic and salary norms that result in gender inequalities, and reassess the economic value placed on work traditionally held by women;
scrutinise the structural pay inequalities that result in women being disproportionately represented in low pay sectors;
To note: Work and welfare issues are going to be covered over 2 meetings on Saturday 14 November and on Saturday 5 December. The topics to be covered on 14 November are set out below. (We will have a separate session on care in January 2021.)
Saturday 14 November
Work, gender pay gap, low pay, minimum wage, living wage, occupational segregation, promotions and career advancement
Saturday 5 December
Welfare, pensions, activation, working hours, family friendly working arrangements, recognition of caring responsibilities, gender inequalities in tax system
14TH November
VIDEOS & PRESENTATIONS:
Gender and paid work
Professor Helen Russell ESRI
Country measures to reduce the gender pay gap
Professor Damian Grimshaw, Kings College London
Gender pay gap – causes and solutions
Professor Helen Russell ESRI
Advocacy Panel
Professor Paul Donnelly, TU Dublin (moderator)
– Jennifer McCarthy Flynn National Women’s Council
– David Joyce, ICTU
– Kara McGann IBEC
Advocacy: Elizabeth Bowen, Small Firms Association
Personal story panel
Moderator: Tom Arnold
– Avril Hannifin
– Suzy Byrne
– Mariaam Bhatti
Summary of submissions from public consultation on work
Dr. Pauline Cullen
Health Care Assistants’ perspective (Source: SIPTU)
Economic benefits of gender equality (Source: EIGE)
Gender equality: women and men with equal opportunities to work and develop (Source: Business in Europe)
‘Experience of working in low paid sectors: gender perspective’
Dr. Alicja Bobek, Trinity College Dublin
Low paid workers (Source: RTE Brainstorm)
Work Equal video for Equal Pay Day
About the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality:
The Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality (the Assembly) was established by a resolution of the Oireachtas.
Membership of the Assembly consists of 100 people entitled to vote at a referendum, including the Chairperson, Dr. Catherine Day. Further details on the Citizens’ Assembly website.
The Citizens’ Assembly can also be found on Twitter @CitizAssembly and on YouTube: The Citizens’ Assembly
