MALE-FEMALE WAGE DIFFERENTIALS: ANALYSIS AND POLICY ISSUES. ESRI General Research Series Paper No. 163, February 1994

The average hourly earnings of Irish women working in industry rose sharply relative to their male counterparts during the 1970s, particularly after the introduction and implementation of equal pay legislation and anti-discrimination legislation. Since 1980, however, the gap between male and female hourly earnings in industry has been roughly stable. As in many other countries, the persistence of a sizable gap between men’s and women’s wages, as conventionally measured, has given rise to considerable concern. To date, the study of the nature and extent of the gap between male and female wages in Ireland has been hampered by a lack of suitable information. The present paper draws on data gathered in the ESRI’s 1987 Survey of Income Distribution, Poverty and Usage of Stale Services to provide new insights into the nature and extent of the gap