Gender and Work in Ireland Sara O’Sullivan* UCD School of Sociology, University College Dublin

Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x

Onwards and Upwards? Gender and Work in Ireland Sara O’Sullivan* UCD School of Sociology, University College Dublin

Abstract It can be argued that the Irish workforce has been revolutionised over the past 25 years, as married women entered the world of paid work in increasing numbers, bolstering the female participation rate. There have also been changes in gender roles and gender role attitudes over the period. This review will present sociological research analysing this major social change, including research that places the Irish case in a comparative European and international context. The review will mirror the main foci of the ﬁeld, paying particular attention to research on gender role attitudes, occupational segregation and unpaid work. The gendering of the Irish workforce has been a complex and uneven process, involving continuities as well as changes. Overall, the sexual division of labour remains a key feature of paid and unpaid work in Ireland, and the concept has considerable explanatory power in relation to persistent gender inequalities.

Introduction It can be argued that the Irish workforce has been revolutionised over the past 25 years. Women have moved away from their traditional role in the home as wives and mothers, a role supported by the Irish constitution (Lynch et al. 2009; Murphy-Lawless 2000), and entered the world of paid work in their droves (O’Connor 1998; Russell et al. 2009). This trend began in the mid-1980s, escalated sharply during the Celtic Tiger boom period (1995–2005) and is currently experiencing a period of retrenchment (Barry 2008a; O’Connor 1998; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009). As in the rest of Europe, the rise in female participation in the labour force was coupled with a decline in male employment (Goodwin 2002; O’Connor 1998), and until the current recession, a major decline in unemployment. Broadly similar trends have been noted in other western capitalist societies, although the pace and nature of these changes have been far from uniform (Crompton and Harris 1997; Panayotova and Brayfield 1997; Scott et al. 1996). This review will present sociological research analysing this major social change, including research that places the Irish case in a comparative European and international context. The review will mirror the main foci of the field, paying particular attention to research on gender role attitudes, occupational segregation and unpaid work. Research looking at men and women will be included, where available, although the focus will primarily be on women, given the emphasis of the existing research. From 1926 to 1986 the proportion of Irish women in the labour force remained relatively stable: 32 percent of Irish women participated in the paid labour force in 1926 and 31 percent in 1986 (Kennedy 2001; p.70). Irish women’s labour force participation rates then rose from 31 percent in 1986 (Kennedy 2001), to a high of in 60.7 percent in 2007 (Central Statistics Office 2011). The period 1998–2007 alone saw a 55 percent increase in female employment (Russell et al. 2009). In 2008 Ireland slipped into recession, marking the end of the Celtic Tiger boom, and from 2008 to 2010, alongside rising

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Gender and Work in Ireland 377 unemployment levels, there was decline in women’s labour force participation to 56.4 percent (Central Statistics Office 2011; Russell et al. 2009). The Irish women’s movement and second wave feminism placed a key role in the creating the conditions for this expansion to take place (Connolly 2002). For example in the early 1970s the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement campaigned for women to be granted the same rights and opportunities as men, including the removal of the Marriage Bar which forced married women out of paid employment, and the introduction of equal pay. The 1970s and 1980s saw essential legislative reforms introduced, including the removal of the Marriage Bar (1973) and the introduction of legislation prohibiting dis- crimination on the grounds of sex (1977) (Mahon 1995). Increases in Irish women’s labour market participation can also be explained by factors such as the decline in the power of the Catholic Church, increased educational attainment for women, decreases in fertility rates, major increases in the cost of mortgages, and increased demand for labour, higher wages and changes in the structure of the labour market during the Celtic Tiger boom (Fine-Davis et al. 2004; Kennedy 2001; O’Connor 1998; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009). These factors led to an increase in both the supply of, and the demand for Irish women’s labour (Smyth 1997). Since 1999 Irish society has become one where the majority of women are in the paid labour force and those working full-time in the home are in a minority (Central Statistics Office 2011; Russell et al. 2009). The past decade has seen large increases in the numbers of mothers in the labour force, with particularly strong participation rates for mothers of children aged five or higher and the majority of mothers are now in the labour force (Central Statistics Office 2011; Russell et al. 2009). Over this period the overall pattern is one of convergence, as Irish women’s labour market behaviour became similar to that of women in other western societies. However comparative data shows that Ireland remains relatively low in terms of numbers of dual- earner households, and high in numbers of male breadwinner households (McGinnity and Russell 2008). It should be noted that increases in Irish women’s labour force participation do not mean they have achieved equality in the labour market, or in the home. Gender inequality is evident in the Irish workforce. Many of the same features evident across the developed world in respect of men and women’s participation in paid and unpaid work are applicable (England 2011), including occupational segregation (O’Connor 1998; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009; Smyth and Steinmetz 2008), the gender wage gap (Russell et al. 2010) and an unequal division of unpaid (McGinnity and Russell 2008) and caring work (Lynch et al. 2009). These persistent inequalities have been the focus of the majority of the literature in the field, and will be explored in some detail later in this review.

Theoretical influences on the field Discussion of changes in Irish women’s participation in the paid labour force have often implicitly drawn on modernisation theory, particularly by scholars outside the field of sociology and ⁄or those without an interest in gender. The changes are presented within a linear model of development, and as involving a progression from a traditional society dominated by catholic social teaching, to a more modern society, where the declining power of the Catholic Church (Inglis 1998) and the liberalising influence of EC member- ship, combined to create a more gender equal society. As Connolly (2002) argues, this model is problematic for a number of reasons. It positions women as ‘late developers’, committed to traditional ideologies. This ignores the role of the Irish women’s movement

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 378 Gender and Work in Ireland and individual women’s agency (Connolly 2002). It suggests a trajectory from gender inequality to gender equality which is not supported by the available literature (England 2011; McGinnity and Russell 2008; Russell et al. 2009). It is focused solely on changes and cannot adequately deal with the continuities that are evident (Korpi 2010; O’Connor 1998), except to label them as cultural lags from a more traditional society (Collins and Browne 2005). It ignores the complex interconnections between the economy, capital, welfare regimes (Epsing-Andersen 1990), gender role attitudes (Fine-Davis et al. 2004; O’Sullivan 2007b) and unpaid work in the private sphere (Lynch et al. 2009). Finally it overlooks the contribution of sociology of gender, and particularly the theoretical models developed in this field that have considerably more explanatory power. Other influential models include the reserve army thesis, which positions married women as a reserve labour supply, available to enter the labour market when they are needed and to return to their families when they are not (Finlay 1987, p.89). However, as Smyth (1997) argues, this model does not fit overall employment trends during the 1980s recession when women’s labour force participation rose rather than fell. Neither can it explain the way the labour market is organised on the basis of gender. A more useful model, highlighting the structural components of gender inequality, comes from the work of Connell (1987). According to Connell the sexual division of labour is one of the structures supporting the way gender is currently organised, termed the gender order. Connell (2002, p.61), writing about Australian society, argues the pre- vailing norms about men and women’s work remain strong; the whole economic sphere is culturally defined as men’s world (regardless of the presence of women in it), while domestic life is defined as women’s world (regardless of the presence of men in it) [parentheses in original]. This model is particularly relevant in the Irish context, where article 41.2 of the 1937 constitution, heavily influenced by Catholic teaching, explicitly frames women’s role (but not men’s) as follows: 41.2.1 In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. 41.2.2 The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home. Within the workforce the sexual division of labour divides jobs and tasks into those suitable for men and those suitable for women; ‘the prior division of work among people becomes a social rule allocating people to work. An employee entering a firm is given job X if a woman, job Y if a man’ (Connell 1987, p.99). This impacts on how work is designed and organized by employers, and generates occupational segregation, an important feature of the Irish labour force as we will see. Another very useful corpus of work problematises the category ‘woman’. Feminist writers such as bell hooks (1994), and those writing from the men’s studies tradition (Connell 1987) have argued that it makes no sense to speak of ‘men’ and ‘women’, ignoring social differences which may advantage or disadvantage them, such as race, class, age, occupation, sexuality, education, disability and so on. Korpi (2010) characterises Ireland as a deviant case in European terms (alongside Switzerland), characterized by high levels of both gender and income inequality. Class and gender intersect to produce both powerful women and powerless men (Lynch et al. 2009). There is a strong class dimen- sion to Irish women’s experience of the labour market (Kennedy 2003) and labour

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x Gender and Work in Ireland 379 market outcomes for those with higher education levels are very different to those without (Russell et al. 2009). This can sometimes be overlooked due to the tendency to speak about women as if they are a homogenous category. Turner and McMahon (2011) cha- racterise the growth in women’s labour force participation between 1996 and 2006, as involving a polarisation, with an increase in women working in high skilled jobs (to a greater extent than for men) and a decrease in low skilled jobs overall, but increase in the numbers of women in these jobs (see also Barry 2008b). Finally, another important model, particularly in the UK literature, has been Hakim’s (1996) preference theory. She argues that not all women wish to participate in the labour force when they become mothers, and that much of the research in this field, focusing on barriers and obstacles to maternal employment, overlooks valid choices made by women who place greater value on their role as mothers, than their role as workers. Overall this model is problematic as it positions labour market orientations as individual level attributes, rather than as variable and shaped by life experiences (Vespa 2009). It also highlights choices and neglects constraints, which as we shall see are important to con- sider. Overall the model, although influential, has not been found to have explanatory power in the Irish case (Collins and Wickham 2004), although the concept of choice is a powerful one at the ideological level and dominates much public discussion of women and work in Ireland. Much of the sociological research highlights gender inequalities which limit or constrain women’s labour force participation, as well as the broader social processes in play which influence men and women’s choices, including gender norms and employers’ and trade unions’ actions (Byrne and Leonard 1997, p.59). To sum up, sociological theory draws our attention to the sexual division of labour as a key structure of contemporary Irish society, and one which underpins the attitudes and behaviours of Irish employers and employees. It also highlights the heterogeneity of the categories men and women, and the need for future research to pay close attention to how gender, race and class intersect in the Irish labour market.

Changing attitudes to women’s employment In the context of the rapid feminisation of the Irish labour force, it is not surprising that considerable attention has been paid by sociologists to changes in Irish attitudes to women’s paid employment (Craven 2004; Fine-Davis 1988; Hilliard 2006; O’Sullivan 2007b; Scott et al. 1996; Treas and Widmer 2000; Whelan and Fahey 1994). Much of the available work on attitudes to women’s employment reports that the general trend in attitudes to women’s participation in the paid workforce has been towards relatively positive attitudes (Twenge 1997), and this trend has been interpreted as reﬂecting increasing liberalisation and egalitarianism (Evans 2000), an argument which overlaps with the modernisation theory approach critiqued earlier. In the Irish case, Fine-Davis et al. (2004, p.51) report a shift away from traditional attitudes to gender roles from the mid-1970s to a decade later. Analyses of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and European Social Values (ESV) data shows this trend has continued and that the period 1998 to 2002 was characterised by considerable attitudinal change (O’Sullivan 2007b; Russell et al. 2009; Whelan and Fahey 1994). Whereas in the mid 1990s it was argued that Irish respondents had become more concerned about the negative consequences of women’s labour force participation (Scott et al. 1996) and some ‘indirect resistance’ to maternal employment was evident (Whelan and Fahey 1994), by 2002 there had been a decline in support for the gendered division of labour and in particular, the male breadwinner role, as evident from a decline in those agreeing with the statement ‘A man’s job is to earn

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 380 Gender and Work in Ireland money, a woman’s job is to look after the home and family’. However the limited research available on Irish masculinities, shows that the male breadwinner role continues to be important to Irish men (Goodwin 2002) and restricts their participation in caring and other unpaid work in the home (Hanlon 2009). Analysis of ISSP data shows no evidence of a backlash against women’s employment (O’Sullivan 2007b). There is support for women entering paid employment and for continuing with this employment after children and a shift in attitudinal regime is evident, from motherhood focused in 1994 to work focused in 2002 (Treas and Widmer 2000). However given that this data predates the current recession, it will be interesting to see if the next round of ISSP and ESV data shows this trend continuing. To take a comparative view, in 2002 Irish attitudes towards maternal employment were more traditional than those in Denmark and Sweden, but less traditional than those held in the USA and UK (Russell et al. 2009). However the majority view across the US, Ireland and Great Britain is that women should work full-time before they have children, whereas for mothers of pre-schoolers full-time work is the least popular option (O’Sullivan 2007b). There is a difference of opinion cross–nationally about the best option for women with preschool children; while Irish respondents favoured part-time work, staying at home was the preferred option for respondents in the United States and Great Britain. Despite these differences in opinion, the attitudes reported support Connell’s model of a sexual division of labour, with caring work framed as women’s work. Although there is no automatic association between increased female labour force participation and more liberal gender role attitudes (Braun et al. 1994), in the Irish case changes in behaviour have been accompanied by attitudinal changes. However, it should be noted that although the overall trend is away from traditional attitudes to gender roles, in 2002 approximately one-third of respondents still supported traditional breadwinner⁄ homemaker roles (O’Sullivan 2007b). There is some disagreement evident about the relationship between changes in Irish gender role attitudes and changing behaviour. Murphy-Lawless (2000, p.89) argues that the increased participation of Irish women, and particularly of married women, in the paid labour force since the 1990s has challenged the predominant breadwinner model and women’s traditional role in the home (see also Kennedy 2001), an argument which implies that in the Irish case, attitudinal changes fol- lowed behavioural changes. In contrast Fine-Davis et al. (2004) suggest that signiﬁcant attitudinal changes occurred between the 1970s and the 1980s, a period characterised by both feminist activity and major legislative changes as we have seen, and that Irish attitudes had become less traditional by the mid-1980s (see also Beale 1986). In this analysis attitudinal changes are argued to have predated behavioural changes and may indeed have facilitated the major changes that were to come. However Russell et al. (2009) caution that any causal argument is difﬁcult to make with the available data.

Occupational segregation Another important sub-ﬁeld, both in Irish and international research, is the persistent phenomenon of occupational segregation. Connell (1987) argues that this is central to the division of labour in the current gender order. England (2011) has characterised the gender revolution as stalled in the United States, and one key indicator of this is a slowdown in occupational desegregation post-1990. Both horizontal and vertical segregation remain important features of the Irish labour market (Galligan 2000; O’Connor 1998; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009). During the boom period there was some decline in occupational segregation. Many professional careers saw increases in female participation; for

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x Gender and Work in Ireland 381 example, the majority of those entering the legal and medical professions since the late 1980s have been young women (Bacik and Drew 2006; O’Sullivan 2007a). However many growth areas have been ones with a concentration of women (O’Connor 1998; Russell et al. 2009), and some areas have become more rather than less segregated in recent years (O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009). Some of the persistence of occupational segregation can be explained by the continued segregation in the educational system which channels men and women into different areas of work (England 2011; Russell et al. 2010; Smyth and Steinmetz 2008). A clear effect of gender segregation on wages is also evident in a recent study of graduates in working in the Irish private sector (Russell et al. 2010). Both men and women working in ‘female’ areas earn less, and this represents ‘a collective disadvantage’. Given the study also found that Irish men are more focused on financial rewards for work than their female counterparts, this wage differential is likely to act as a significant disincentive to men moving into female dominated areas. Women are the minority of those in positions of power in Irish society and vertical segregation is evident in both the public and private sectors (O’Connor 1998; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2010). Although this pattern is consistent with global trends, Irish women are less likely to be in positions of authority than women in the US or UK (Yaish and Stier 2009). However there have been some improvements in the proportion of women in managerial roles over the past fifteen years (O’Sullivan 2007a), albeit the available data makes it difficult to identify the precise location of women in what is a very broad category, and particularly whether they are in high or low status areas of the economy (O’Connor 1998). A recent study of young adults found they believed that women had to be better than men to be promoted (O’Connor 2007), a perception that is borne out by the available evidence, with Russell et al. (2009) estimating that men are 2.3 times more likely than women to be promoted in the private sector and twice as likely to be promoted in the public sector than their female counterparts. Data on the extent of the glass ceiling in private sector is scanty overall. In 2006 4.6 percent of Chief Executive Officers in the top 1000 were women (O’Sullivan 2007a). Currently, in companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange’s Security Market, the overwhelming majority of executive and non- executive board positions are held by men, 96 and 92 percent respectively (Lynch 2011). Change here is occurring at a ‘glacial’ pace (Reddan 2011). The comparable figures for companies listed on the UK FTSE are 95 and 88 percent. Caring responsibilities have been identified as significant barriers to Irish women’s career progression, and a key factor in explaining the persistence of vertical segregation (O’Connor 1998; Bacik and Drew 2006; Devine et al. 2011). The dominant workplace norms at senior levels place considerable value on availability and presentism. In the field of education senior posts were understood as requiring unlimited time, and managers as people without responsibilities outside of work (Devine et al. 2011). Of course this fram- ing excludes from senior positions those for whom this is not possible, or not desirable, due to caring responsibilities, creating a tendency for women to ‘self-select’ out of these positions. This was seen as a private matter, a preference in Hakim (1996) terms, and was not related to the structural conditions found in the field and the way organisations are gendered. Women positioned themselves and were positioned by colleagues, ‘as free choosing subjects, the bearers of responsibility for their own lack of career progression’ (Devine et al. 2011, p.647). Other Irish studies into vertical segregation have had broadly similar results, finding that many (men) working in senior positions were freed up to participate in the long-hours working culture by the support offered by stay-at-home partners (Bacik and Drew 2006; Collins and Browne 2005). Lynch et al. (2009) term this a

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 382 Gender and Work in Ireland division between care providers and ‘care commanders’, where care commanders both set and beneﬁt from workplace norms. Overall the sexual division of labour is clearly evident in the organisation of paid and unpaid work, and is maintained by a gendered education system and the persistence of traditional attitudes towards gender roles, albeit not among a minority. Irish women continue to be seen as more ‘suitable’ for caring responsibilities, and for employment in female-dominated sectors and in less senior roles.

A stalled revolution? The global pattern of a gendered division of labour (Connell 2002), where women bear the burden of responsibility for unpaid work in the home is strongly evident in the Irish case. Hochschild (1989) has identified what she terms a ‘stalled revolution’ in American society. Here she is referring to the fact that women’s mass entry into the paid labour force, the first part of the revolution in the gendered division of labour, has not been accompanied by a restructuring or a renegotiation of the gendered division of labour in the home. However more recent evidence suggests that men’s participation in unpaid work in the home has increased internationally, albeit often at a slow pace (Hook 2006; Sullivan 2000). In Ireland a similar pattern can be observed and changes in relation to unpaid work have been much more modest than changes in women’s labour force participation (Hilliard 2006; Leonard 2004; McGinnity and Russell 2008). A range of explana- tions have been put forward to explain this and suggest a combination of individual and macro level factors interact to produce this continuity (Lachance-Grzela Myle`ne 2010). This unfair division of domestic labour can be seen as reflective of a lack of female power (Breen and Cooke 2005; Connell 1987). McGinnity and Russell (2008) examine gender differences in time spent on both paid and unpaid work. Overall, the trend is that women do more unpaid and men more paid work, and a high percentage of men continue to do no housework at all. Interestingly ‘the second shift’ (Hochschild 1989) for women was found to apply only at the weekend and during the working week there was a balance in total time spent on unpaid and paid work, once travel to work was added into the calculations. However this did not mean there was equal sharing of housework; rather employed women were found to spend three times longer on housework than employed men. Total committed times were similar due to men’s longer travel times, albeit that this commuting time might allow for reading, listening to music and other leisure activities. On a weekend day women have, on average, 24 min less free time than men, leading to a leisure gap. For men children were found to increase the time spent in paid work, whereas for women children were found to increase time spent on unpaid work (see also Hook 2006), and this increase was greater than the corresponding male increase. A similar pattern is found in relation to caring work (Lynch et al. 2009). Despite the rhetoric around the ‘new father’ (LaRossa 1995), large differences were also found in the time Irish men and women spend on caring work (McGinnity and Russell 2008). This study of time use suggests that the norm in Irish society is that the mother retains primary responsibility for children and their needs, irrespective of whether or not she is working. Childcare and other caring work is seen as part of the female role and so women’s experience as workers is mediated by motherhood, as well as by education and class (Lynch et al. 2009; O’Sullivan 2007a). Overall women with children, and particularly women with children under the age of five, are less likely than other groups to participate in the labour force (Central Statistics Office 2011; O’Sullivan 2007a; Russell et al. 2009). The impact of parenthood on female employment is estimated to be the fourth highest in EU

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x Gender and Work in Ireland 383

27 (Saraceno 2011). As is found elsewhere, better educated women with children are more likely to be in the labour force than those less well educated (Russell et al. 2009; Saraceno 2011), and it appears likely that their economic resources are used to buy in support for caring and other work in the home that would otherwise be their responsibility (Barry 2008b). Until the start of the recent recession, much of the recent employment policy focus in Ireland has been on stimulating married women’s potential as a ‘latent’ employment supply (Barry 2008b). Policies focused particularly on encouraging women with children to return to work, including an increase in maternity leave to 26 weeks paid leave (with the possibility of an additional 12 weeks unpaid leave), the introduction of (unpaid) parental leave and moves towards the individualization of the taxation system (Russell et al. 2009). However no move was made for public provision of childcare, common in other European countries, or to introduce paid paternity leave or parental leave for men, a move towards a more gender neutral model of caring responsibilities that would facilitate the emergence of dual earner, dual career households (Rush 2011). Overall public policy on caring involves ‘a strong emphasis on market forces and individual freedom... it is not seen as the government’s role to provide childcare’ (Russell et al. 2009:1). This neo- liberal model shares features of the US and UK systems (Allen 2007; Collins and Boucher 2005; Lynch et al. 2009; Rush 2011). Despite recent improvements in maternity entitlements, a recent study ranked Irish childcare policy in ﬁfteenth place out of the 27 EU member states in terms of length of maternity and parental leave, and level of compensation, with Great Britain ranked clo- sely behind, in eighteenth place (Saraceno 2011, p.80). Ireland was ranked particularly poorly in terms of childcare coverage; where the pattern across the EU and in the US is that the majority of children are in childcare, only 15 percent of Irish children aged under three are in formal childcare (Saraceno 2011; p.81). There are problems with both the availability and the cost of childcare (Department of Justice Equality Law Reform 2004: 8), and childcare costs in Ireland are estimated to be the highest in the EU (McGinnity and Russell 2008, p.15). One consequence of this has been a widespread reliance on informal, and often unpaid, care arrangements (Collins and Wickham 2004; O’Sullivan 2007a), particularly for women in low paid work (Russell and Corcoran 2000). As inward migration became more common in Ireland (Loyal 2007), female migrants were often employed as domestic and childcare workers, often working in the informal economy (Barry 2008b; Migrant Rights Centre Ireland 2004). Hochschild (2000) has drawn attention to this phenomenon in the US, termed the globalisation of mothering, which heightens inequalities between minority world women who often leave their own families in their home countries to provide domestic services for majority world women to enable their participation in the labour force. Drawing on welfare regime models, this policy context can be characterised as the structural context within which behaviour takes place, and although not a determining factor (Collins and Wickham 2004), makes certain choices more or less rational and more or less likely for different men and women (Lyonette et al. 2011). In the absence of affordable childcare provision, considerable effort and ingenuity goes into organising childcare to facilitate Irish women’s labour force participation. So in the Irish case a structural level constraint has not prevented a large number of mothers working full-time. However informal childcare arrangements are likely to be affected by the increases in labour market participation of older women and lower skilled women in recent years (Russell et al. 2009).

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 384 Gender and Work in Ireland

As has been already seen, the impact of parenthood is not consistent, but varies by education level, revealing ‘socially structured preferences, based both on individual incli- nations and on the complex system of labour market conditions, class and gender specific local cultures...[and] options, resources and constraints’ (Saraceno 2011, p.89). Irish women with higher levels of education, and in better paid jobs are more likely to return to work after pregnancy, and tend to have better entitlements, take more leave and be more likely to take unpaid maternity leave (Russell et al. 2011). Again this supports the argument that Irish women’s labour force experiences are polarised and not homogenous. Lyonette et al. (2011) point to structural underpinning of choices made in dual income couples, about women’s to return to work after they become mothers. In the UK the cost of childcare emerged as an important factor, often making part-time work an attrac- tive option. In contrast in the US employer-provided health insurance was an important factor. As part-time work does not usually come with this key benefit it made part-time work an unattractive option. This goes some way to explaining the differences in the take up of part-time work in the UK and the US. In the Irish case the cost of childcare also emerges as an important factor (Russell et al. 2011) and although ISSP data shows part- time work is the preferred option for mothers of pre-schoolers, it is not always feasible because of these costs. Another local level factor is the high costs of mortgages repay- ments in Ireland, which has locked some couples into the dual-earner couples model. A final issue to be considered is the availability and take-up of ‘family friendly’ or work⁄life balance policies. The overall trend internationally is that these tend to be more available in the public sector, a key factor explaining women’s concentration in this sector (Barry and Vasquez del Aguila 2009; O’Connell and Russell 2005; Yaish and Stier 2009). On paper, these look like a positive initiative in terms of gender inequalities, allowing families to juggle the competing demands of two very greedy institutions (Gornick and Meyers 2005). However in practice these policies tend to be directed at, and taken up primarily by women (Bergmann 2008; Collins and Browne 2005; Connell 2005; Shalev 2008) and so reinforce a complementary spheres model where women are positioned as bearers of primary responsibility for childcare. One common flexible working arrange- ment is part-time work and in Ireland currently 32 percent of women and only 7 percent of men work part-time (Barry and Vasquez del Aguila 2009) While this might allow women manage caring responsibilities, part time workers are more likely to be low paid. In addition opting for family friendly arrangements is often seen as a sign of commitment to family rather than work, and so not compatible with career progression (Collins and Browne 2005). In sum family friendly policies appear to reinforce a gendered division of labour and so contribute to gender inequality rather than gender justice (Connell 2005; Yaish and Stier 2009).

Conclusion The past 25 years has seen major changes in the proportion of Irish women in the labour force. This has been a complex and uneven process, involving both continuities and changes. Overall gender inequalities remain important in the Irish workforce, despite women’s increased participation rates. The sexual division of labour is a key structure of contemporary Irish society, and underpins the attitudes and behaviours of Irish employers and employees. Irish women continue to be seen as more ‘suitable’ for caring responsibilities, and employment in female-dominated sectors and less senior roles. This key structure is maintained by a gendered education system. Additionally, although the overall trend is away from traditional

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x Gender and Work in Ireland 385 attitudes to gender roles, a substantial minority continue to support traditional breadwinner⁄ homemaker roles. Such attitudes lend support to the sexual division of labour. Family friendly policies are targeted at, and taken up disproportionately by women, and so appear to also reinforce this sexual division of labour. There is little controversy evident in the ﬁeld; the main difference is the extent to which research foregrounds a policy focus (e.g. much of Russell et al.’s work), or foregrounds a critique drawing on scholarship from gender studies (e.g. the work of O’Con- nor). Overall research has tended to focus on women, and there is a paucity of work focusing on men’s experiences (but see Collins and Browne 2005; Hanlon 2009; Good- win 2002). This is a major gap in the literature and the partial picture painted tends to support a picture of women as the ones at the vanguard of change, and men as recipients of these changes (Delamont 2001; England 2011). Further investigation is needed to see if this is an accurate depiction in the Irish case. Gender inequalities evident in the Irish workforce are experienced differently by women from different class backgrounds and with different levels of education. There is a need for future research to pay close attention to how gender, race and class intersect in the Irish labour market. Given the current recession, and the recurrence of unemployment, an important area for research in the short-term will be the differential impact of unemployment on Irish men and women’s participation in and experience of the labour force, as well as how class and race impact on gendered patterns of unemployment.

Short Biography Sara O’Sullivan is a lecturer in the School of Sociology, University College Dublin. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, gender in Irish society, and sociology of the media and she has published in each of these areas. Her latest publica- tion is ‘Applying the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in an Irish Context: Mission Impossible?’ Teaching Sociology 39(3): 303–19. In 2007 she edited Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, published by UCD Press. She teaches courses in qualitative research, media, and sociology of gender. She holds a BA in English and Sociology from Trinity College Dublin, and a Masters and PhD in Sociology from University College Dublin.

Note * Correspondence address: Sara O’Sullivan, UCD School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Belﬁeld, Dublin 4, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected]

References Allen, Kieran. 2007. The Corporate Takeover of Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. Bacik, Ivana and Eileen Drew. 2006. ‘Struggling to Juggle: Gender and Work ⁄ Life Balance in the Legal Profes- sions.’ Women’s Studies International Forum 29(2): 136–46. Barry, Ursula. 2008a. National Expert Assessment of the Gender Perspective in the National Reform Programme for Employment: Ireland. [Online]. Dublin: UCD School of Social JusticeWorking Papers Series Number 8(3):1–27. Retrieved on 20 July 2011 from: http://irserver.ucd.ie/dspace/bitstream/10197/2058/1/ Barry-national%20expert%20assessment-2008.pdf. Barry, Ursula. 2008b. ‘Changing Economic and Social Worlds of Irish Women.’ Pp. 1–29 in Where Are We Now? New Feminist Perspectives on Women in Contemporary Ireland, edited by Ursula Barry. Dublin: New Island publishers. Barry, Ursula and Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila. 2009. Flexible Working Time Arrangements in Ireland. [Online]. UCD School of Social Justice Working Papers Series Number 9(2): 1–26. Retrieved on 20 July 2011 from: http://irserver.ucd.ie/dspace/bitstream/10197/2038/1/Barry-VasquezdelAguila-Flexibilityirishreport-2009.pdf.

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 386 Gender and Work in Ireland

Beale, Jenny. 1986. Women in Ireland: Voices for Change. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. Bergmann, Barbara. 2008. ‘Long Leaves, Child Well-Being, and Gender Equality.’ Politics & Society 36(3): 350–9. Braun, Micheal, Jacqueline Scott and Duane F. Alwin. 1994. ‘Economic Necessity or Self-actualisation? Attitudes toward Women’s Labour Force Participation in East and West Germany.’ European Sociological Review 10(1): 29–47. Breen, Richard and Lynn Prince Cooke. 2005. ‘The Persistence of the Gendered Division of Domestic Labour.’ European Sociological Review 21(1): 43–57. Central Statistics Office. 2011. Women and Men in Ireland 2010. [Online]. Dublin: Stationery Office. Retrieved on 20 July 2011 from: http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/other_releases/2010/womenand- men2010.pdf. Collins, Grainne and Gerry Boucher. 2005. ‘Irish Neo-Liberalism at Work?’ Pp. 1–16 in The New World of Work: Labour Markets in Contemporary Ireland, edited by Gerry Boucher and Grainne Collins. Dublin: Liffey Press. Collins, Grainne and Josephine Browne. 2005 ‘Taking Fathers Seriously: Flexible Working in an Irish company.’ Pp. 61–81 in The New World of Work: Labour Markets in Contemporary Ireland, edited by Gerry Boucher and Grainne Collins. Dublin: Liffey Press. Collins, Grainne and James Wickham. 2004. ‘Inclusion or Exploitation? Irish Women Enter the Work Force.’ Gender Work and Organisation 11(1): 26–46. Connell, R.W. 1987. Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Connell, R.W. 2002. Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press. Connell, R.W. 2005. ‘A Really Good Husband – Work ⁄ Life Balance, Gender Equity and Social Change.’ Austra- lian Journal of Social Issues 40(3): 369–83. Connolly, Linda. 2002. The Irish Women’s Movement: From Revolution to Devolution. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmil- lan. Craven, Florence. 2004. ‘Determinants of Attitudes Held by Irish Catholic and Protestant Women Towards Gender Roles, Maternal Employment and Social Perceptions of Women in Irish Society.’ International Review of Sociology 14(3): 293–308. Crompton, Rosemary and Fiona Harris. 1997. ‘Women’s Employment and Gender Attitudes: A Comparative Anal- ysis of Britain, Norway and the Czech Republic.’ Acta Sociologica 40(2): 183–202. Delamont, Sara. 2001. Changing Women, Unchanged Men? Sociological Perspectives on Gender in a Post-industrial Society. Open University Press: Buckingham. Department of Justice Equality Law Reform. 2004. Developing Childcare in Ireland. Dublin: Stationary Office. Devine, Dymphna, Bernie Grummell and Kathleen Lynch. 2011. ‘Crafting the Elastic Self? Gender and Identities in Senior Management in Irish Education.’ Gender, Work and Organisation 18(6): 631–49. England, Paula. 2011. ‘Reassessing the Uneven Gender Revolution and its Slowdown.’ Gender & Society 25(1): 113–23. Epsing-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press. Evans, Mariah Debora Ruperti. 2000. ‘Women’s Participation in the Labour Force: Ideals and Behaviour.’ Austra- lian Social Monitor 3: 49–57. Fine-Davis, Margaret. 1988. Gender Role Attitudes in Ireland 1975–1986: First Report of the Second Joint Oireachtas Committee on Women’s Rights. Dublin: Government Publications. Fine-Davis, Margaret, Jeanne Fagnani, Dino Giovannini, Lis Hojgaard and Hilary Clarke. 2004. Fathers and Mothers: Dilemmas of the Work-Life Balance – A Comparative Study in Four European Countries. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Finlay, Andrew. 1987. ‘The Cutting Edge: Derry Shirtworkers.’ Pp. 87–107 in Gender in Irish Society, edited by Chris Curtin, Pauline Jackson and Barbara O’Connor. Galway: Galway University Press. Galligan, Yvonne. 2000. The Development of Mechanisms to Monitor Progress in Achieving Gender Equality in Ireland. Dublin: Stationery Office. Goodwin, John. 2002. ‘Irish Men and Work in North County Dublin.’ Journal of Gender Studies 11(2): 151–66. Gornick, Janet and Marcia Meyers. 2005. Families that Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Hakim, Catherine. 1996. Key Issues in Women’s Work: Female Heterogeneity and the Polarisation of Women’s Employ- ment. London: Athlone Press. Hanlon, Niall. 2009. ‘Caregiving Masculinities: An Exploratory Analysis’ Pp. 180–98 in Affective Inequality: Love, Care and Injustice, edited by Kathleen Lynch, John Baker and Maureen Lyons. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hilliard, Betty. 2006. ‘Changing Gender Roles in Intimate Relationships.’ Pp. 33–42 in Irish Social and Political Atti- tudes, edited by John Garry, Niamh Hardiman and Diane Payne. Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press. Hochschild, Arlie. 1989. The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York: Viking. Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2000. ‘Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value.’ Pp. 130–46 in On The Edge: Living With Global Capitalism, edited by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens. London: Jonathan Cape. Hook, Jennifer L. 2006. ‘Care in Context: Men’s Unpaid Work in 20 Countries, 1965–2003.’ American Sociological Review 71(4): 639–60. hooks, bell. 1994. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centre. Boston: South End Press.

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x Gender and Work in Ireland 387

Inglis, Tom. 1998. Lessons in Irish Sexuality. Dublin: UCD Press. Kennedy, Finola. 2001. Cottage to Cre`che: Family Change in Ireland. Dublin: IPA. Kennedy, Sinead. 2003. ‘Irish Women and the Celtic Tiger Economy.’ Pp. 95–109 in The End of Irish History? Crit- ical Reflections on the Celtic Tiger, edited by Colin Coulter and Steve Coleman. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Korpi, Walter. 2010. ‘Class and Gender Inequalities in Different Types of Welfare States: the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP).’ International Journal of Social Welfare 19: S14–24. Lachance-Grzela Myle`ne, Genevie`ve Bouchard. 2010. ‘Why Do Women Do the Lion’s Share of Housework? A Decade of Research.’ Sex Roles 63(11–12): 767–80. LaRossa, Ralph. 1995. ‘Fatherhood and Social Change.’ Pp. 448–60 in Men’s Lives, 3rd edn, edited by Michael Kimmel and Michael Messner. London: Allyn and Bacon. Leonard, Madeline. 2004. ‘Teenage Girls and Housework in Irish Society.’ Irish Journal of Sociology 13(1): 71–86. Loyal, Steven. 2007. ‘Immigration.’ Pp. 30–47. in Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, edited by Sara O’Sulli- van. Dublin: UCD Press. Lynch, Kathleen, John Baker and Maureen Lyons (eds) 2009. Affective Inequality: Love, Care and Injustice. Basing- stoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Lynch, Suzanne. 2011. ‘Glass Ceiling a Persistent Reality in Many of ISEQs Big Name Companies.’ Irish Times. July 8 2011. Retrieved on 22 January 2012 from: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0708/ 1224300303151.html. Lyonette, Clare, Gayle Kaufman and Rosemary Crompton. 2011. ‘‘We Both Need to Work’: Maternal Employ- ment, Childcare and Health Care in Britain and the USA.’ Work Employment and Society 25: 34–50. Mahon, Evelyn. 1995. ‘From Democracy to Femocracy: The Women’s Movement in the Republic of Ireland.’ Pp. 675–708 in Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Patrick Clancy, Sheelagh Drudy, Kathleen Lynch and Liam O’Dowd. Dublin: IPA. McGinnity, Frances and Helen Russell. 2008. Gender Inequalities in Time Use. [Online]. Dublin: ESRI. Retrieved on 25 July 2011 from: http://www.equality.ie/index.asp?locID=105&docID=725. Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. 2004. A Public Concern; The Experience of Twenty Migrant Women Employed in the Private Home in Ireland. [Online]. Dublin: Migrant Rights Centre. Retrieved on 24 July 2011 from:http://www.mrci.ie/media/128689768415_Private%20Homes%20-%20A%20Public%20Concern.pdf. Murphy-Lawless, Jo. 2000. ‘Changing Women’s Lives: Child Care Policy in Ireland.’ Feminist Economics 6(1): 89–94. O’Connell, Philip J. and Helen Russell. 2005. Equality at Work? – Workplace Equality Policies, Flexible Working Arrangements and the Quality of Work. Dublin: Equality Authority. O’Connor, Pat. 1998. Emerging Voices: Women in Contemporary Irish Society. Dublin: IPA. O’Connor, Pat. 2007. ‘Still Changing Places: Women’s Paid Employment and Gender Roles.’ The Irish Review 35: 64–78. O’Sullivan, Sara. 2007a. ‘Gender and the Workforce.’ Pp. 265–82 in Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, edited by Sara O’Sullivan. Dublin: UCD Press. O’Sullivan, Sara. 2007b. ‘Gender and Attitudes to Women’s Employment: 1988–2002.’ Pp. 135–62 in Changing Ire- land in International Comparison, edited by Betty Hilliard and Maire NicGhiolla Pha´draig. Dublin: Liffey Press. Panayotova, Evelina and April Brayfield. 1997. ‘National Context and Gender Ideology – Attitudes Toward Women’s Employment in Hungary and the United States.’ Gender and Society 11(5): 627–55. Reddan, Fiona. 2011. ‘High time to Bring Qualified Women on Board.’ Irish Times. July 8 2011. Retrieved on 22 January 2012 from: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0708/1224300303109.html. Rush, Michael. 2011. ‘The Two Worlds of Father Politics in the Republic of Ireland: Swedish versus American Influences.’ The Journal of Comparative Family Studies XXXXII (1): 37–57. Russell, Helen and Mary P. Corcoran. 2000. The Experience of those Claiming the One-Parent Family Payment: A Qualitative Study. Dublin: Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. Russell, Helen, Frances McGinnity, Tim Callan and Claire Keane. 2009. A Woman’s Place: Female Participation in the Irish Labour Market. Dublin: The Equality Authority and The Economic and Social Research Institute. Russell, Helen, Emer Smyth and Philip J. O’Connell. 2010. ‘Gender Differences in Pay Among Recent Graduates: Private Sector Employees in Ireland.’ Journal of Youth Studies 13(2): 213–33. Russell, Helen, Dorothy Watson and Joanne Banks. 2011. Pregnancy at Work: A National Survey. Dublin: HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme and the Equality Authority. Saraceno, Chiara. 2011. ‘Childcare Needs and Childcare Policies: A Multidimensional Issue.’ Current Sociology 59(1): 78–96. Scott, Jacqueline, Duane F. Alwin and Michael Braun. 1996. ‘Generational Changes in Gender-Role Attitudes: Britain in a Cross–National Perspective.’ Sociology 30(3): 471–92. Shalev, Michael. 2008. ‘Class Divisions Among Women.’ Politics & Society 36(3): 421–44. Smyth, Emer. 1997. ‘Labour Market Structures and Women’s Employment in the Republic of Ireland.’ Pp. 63–80 in Women and Irish Society: A Sociological Reader, edited by Anne Byrne and Madeline Leonard. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications.

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x 388 Gender and Work in Ireland

Smyth, Emer and Stephanie Steinmetz. 2008. ‘Field of Study and Gender Segregation in European Labour Mar- kets.’ International Journal of Comparative Sociology 49: 257–81. Sullivan, Oriel. 2000. ‘The Division of Domestic Labour: 20 Years of Change?.’ Sociology 34(3): 437–56. Treas, Judith and Eric D. Widmer. 2000. ‘Married Women’s Employment Over the Life Course: Attitudes in Cross–National Perspective.’ Social Forces 78(4): 1409–36. Turner, Thomas and Juliette McMahon. 2011. ‘Women’s Occupational Trends in the Irish Economy: Moving towards High-skilled Occupations or Evidence of Deskilling?’ Gender Work and Organisation 18(Issue Supplement S1): e220–40. Twenge, Jean M. 1997. ‘Attitudes Toward Women, 1970–1995 – A Meta-Analysis.’ Psychology of Women Quarterly 21(1): 35–51. Vespa, Jonathan. 2009. ‘Gender Ideology Construction: A Life Course and Intersectional Approach.’ Gender & Soci- ety 23(3): 363–87. Whelan, Christopher and Tony Fahey. 1994. ‘Marriage and the Family.’ Pp. 82–99 in Values and Social Change in Ireland, edited by Christopher Whelan. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. Yaish, Meir and Haya Stier. 2009. ‘Gender Inequality in Job Authority: A Cross–National Comparison of 26 Countries.’ Work and Occupations 36(4): 343–66.

Further Reading Byrne, Anne and Leonard Madeleine 1997. Women in Irish Society: A Sociological Reader. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications. Clear, Catriona. 2000. Women of the House: Women’s Household Work in Ireland, 1922–1961. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. Connelly, Alpha. 1993. Gender and the Law in Ireland. Dublin: Oak Tree Press. Curtin, Chris, Pauline Jackson and Barbara O’Connor (eds) 1987. Gender in Irish Society. Galway: Galway University Press. Daly, Mary. 2011. ‘What Adult Worker Model? A Critical Look at Recent Social Policy Reform in Europe from a Gender and Family Perspective.’ Social Politics 18(1): 1–23. Daly, Mary E. 1997. Women and Work in Ireland. Dublin: Economic and Social History Society of Ireland. Kennedy, Sinead. 2003. ‘Irish Women and the Celtic Tiger Economy.’ Pp. 95–109 in The End of Irish History? Crit- ical Reﬂections on the Celtic Tiger, edited by Colin Coulter and Steve Coleman. Manchester: Manchester University Press. O’Hara, Patricia. 1998. Partners in Production? Women, Farm and Family in Ireland. New York: Berghahn Books. Smyth, Ailbhe. 1993. Irish Women’s Studies Reader. Dublin: Attic Press.

ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Sociology Compass 6/5 (2012): 376–388, 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00458.x