Press Statement from Frances Fitzgerald MEP
Friday, 18th September 2020
In the context of International Equal Pay Day on Friday, 18th of September, Frances Fitzgerald, MEP for Dublin and full member of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, today said that the gender pay gap in Ireland and in Europe is still too high, and must be eradicated.
Speaking in Dublin MEP Fitzgerald commented,
“Despite the right to equal pay for equal work being enshrined in the Treaty of Rome and later in the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU, we are still not close to making it a reality in Europe.”
“Currently the gender pay gap in Europe stands at 16%, meaning that for every euro a man earns, a woman earns 84 cent. This is unacceptable. If we are to truly be a Union of Equality as outlined by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech this week, the European Commission must move to bring forward its proposal on binding measures for pay transparency sooner, rather than later”
“In Ireland we are doing better than the European average, with the gender pay gap standing at 7.5%, meaning that for every euro a man earns, a woman earns 92.5 cent. However any inequality in pay for equal work cannot stand. Ireland stands as a strong, progressive country on the world stage: equal pay for equal work must be at the heart of this vision. I was encouraged to see a commitment to legislation to require the publication of the gender pay gap in large companies outlined in the Programme for Government. I call on the Government to deliver this legislation urgently, and to ensure that we can truly deliver an Ireland for All”
ENDS
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Notes for editors:
International Equal Pay Day is being celebrated for the first time this September 18th. UN Women are pioneering this observance. More detail here: https://www.un.org/en/observances/equal-pay-day
