The Government has been urged to consider providing "wage compensation" to anyone who gives up their job or reduces their working hours to care for others, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
The call comes in a position paper on caregiving from the Women's Health Council which says the burden of caring usually falls on women whose careers, income and health all suffer as a result.
"Despite women's increased presence in the labour market, traditional gender roles are still entrenched in Ireland, as in most European countries, with women faced with the burden of trying to reconcile their roles as mothers, carers and workers, while men still focus primarily on their role as workers and breadwinners," the paper states.
It adds that while the 2000 census pointed to a significant number of men being involved in caring, women still comprised two thirds of those carers who provided care for 43 hours or more a week.
This work needed to be balanced more evenly between men and women, the council, which is a statutory body set up in 1997 to advise the Minister for Health on all aspects of women's health, said.
"The constant struggle to balance their roles as mothers, carers and workers causes women high levels of emotional and psychological distress, as well as increasing the likelihood for physical exhaustion and illness.
"Moreover in order to fulfil their multiple roles, women are more likely to take leave from their jobs and reduce their working hours. These reconciliation strategies have been documented to exert a major negative effect on their careers and on their earnings throughout their lifecourse, representing a wage penalty on caring and exposing women to a greater risk of poverty in their old age," according to the position paper.
"Due to the current trend of delayed childbearing, women are also increasingly experiencing the burden of caring on two fronts simultaneously, having to look after their young children while at the same time caring for ageing parents," it adds.
It said "wage compensation" for those reducing their working hours or giving up work to provide care would be a strong signal that caring is valued as highly as working in the labour market.
At the moment, it said, there was only "scant provision" in terms of State assistance for those who could not combine work and care. There was the carer's allowance and the carer's benefit but only a third of all carers appeared to be receiving these payments which amounted to less than one third of average weekly earnings.
The council has also said both parents should be entitled to paid leave on the birth of a child.