The labour shortage is an opportunity for women to fight the issue of childcare, Ms Catherine Byrne, assistant general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation told delegates at the ICTU women's conference yesterday.
"We have something employers want, we can put up a new fight," she said during an informal debate on a discussion paper on equal opportunities which is to be presented to the joint women's committee of the ICTU.
Ms Byrne added that women had to be organised to avoid being exploited in the skills-shortage environment. Her views were echoed by Ms Carmel Keogh of the Manufacturing Science Finance Union who said her employer had dealt with the childcare issue in an effort to retain staff.
Another delegate, Ms Bernadette Comiskey of the INTO, said: "We are under the greatest threat that we have been under in a long time." Greater demands for hours at work and better performance were threatening family policies at work, she said.
"If you take time off work to be with a sick child, the fear is you will not get promoted."
Mr Liam Kelly, of the Assistant Higher Civil and Public Servants, said gender stereotyping existed in relation to workers who based career decisions on family conditions. A fellow worker was on a job share, Mr Kelly said, "and the perceived wisdom is that he is kissing his career goodbye". Another delegate said mothers in the Civil Service were perceived as not being serious about their careers.
The lack of women in executive positions in trade unions was also raised. Ms Phil Harrington said women needed to be at the negotiating tables to achieve proper gender-proofing. She said that in negotiations men tended to focus on money issues. Ms Riitta Partinen, equal opportunities secretary of the Central Organisation of the Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), told the conference that a system of monthly child benefit, various forms of family leave and an extensive countrywide day-care scheme were the pillars of family policy in Finland.
She said nearly half the labour force in Finland was composed of women and that equality between the genders as parents was strongly emphasised. She added however: "It is mostly the mothers who use the family leaves. Younger mothers stay outside working life due to children for one to three years."