The not-for-profit sector in Ireland employs an estimated 170,000 people. Unfortunately, the official national statistics are largely silent on the exact figure but, whatever the precise number of employees, we know that the workers in this sector provide a vast range of essential services.
Without those services the Irish State would almost certainly breach its international human rights obligations in countless ways on a daily basis. Despite this importance in our everyday lives, official statistics provide little visibility on the not-for-profit sector.
This is a serious data gap. Nor do we really know how many of those employed in the not-for-profit sector are women. I believe this is a gender data gap. Is it not time to ask, why do we not have such basic information?
Perhaps none of this is intentional as capturing much of this data is indeed difficult, although no more difficult than many other routinely reported statistics. The Government is to be commended for the Gender Pay Gap Information Act, 2021 whereby organisations employing over 250 employees are reporting on their gender pay gap for the first time. This aids transparency in assessing many larger private and public sector organisations. But to date we lack visibility on the not-for-profit sector, which by its nature is much more fragmented. A whole sector employing hundreds of thousands of people, which is delivering essential services in communities throughout Ireland, is largely invisible when it comes to both national statistics and gender pay gap reporting.
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This is not simply about recording of data if, as a result, we do not properly represent the extent to which women are rewarded for nurturing our communities and our country. Indeed women in unpaid carer roles are entirely discounted from gender pay gap analysis. As Simone de Beauvoir said: “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men.” The fallacy is that what is unrecorded and often unpaid or poorly paid is unimportant. That is how inequality persists and ultimately society diminishes.
Despite its proven capacity to challenge and lead change, the not-for-profit sector itself continues to be shaped by wider gender patterns. What we do know is that about twice as many women as men work in the sector, but men are over represented in senior roles. A Community Foundation of Ireland (2019) report found that the overall average gender pay gap for management grades is 15 per cent, i.e. overall women managers are paid 85 per cent of the rate paid to their male counterparts. Interestingly, as highlighted by Fiona Ryan (2019, NCI), the larger the not-for-profit organisation and the wealthier, the more likely it is to be headed by male chief executives.
For those of us in leadership positions it is disconcerting that our sector, while often calling out societal norms that need urgent change, in actual fact – whether intentionally or not – mirrors the inequalities in the society that it seeks to change.
But this is not just about gender inequality within not-for-profit organisations. It also concerns the place of the not-for-profit sector and its workforce within society. In An Cosán 92 per cent of employees are women and the current senior management team, the CEO and the Chair are all women. However, despite 36 years of demonstrating our essential contribution to the communities we serve, we can not provide our staff with occupational pensions, sick leave schemes or other conditions on a par with those available in the public sector or amongst reputable private sector employers. As a feminist organisation this is a source of great angst but the reason is that we are simply not funded to do so.
There is a misconception about pay in the sector, partly as a result of coverage of a very small number of headline grabbing senior salaries before the financial crash. Benefacts identified that within the wider economy some 15 per cent are higher paid (i.e. earning over €70,000 in 2019) but in large parts of the not-for-profit sector just 1 per cent are higher paid.
If employment conditions are inferior to other sectors, pay is reaching a crisis point. Staff in much of the not-for-profit sector have not had a pay increase in over a decade, as no funding has been provided for this purpose. The exception is early years care staff where Government last year provided very welcome dedicated funding to address the sustainability of the sector. Public sector workers will enjoy pay increases of 9.5 per cent over the two year period from October 2021. Nobody in our sector begrudges such increases to colleagues who we work with every day, particularly since they will not even keep pace with inflation in consumer prices. But Government and public funders have failed to provide funds for pay increases in publicly funded not-for-profit organisations. In fact some public funders have sought confirmation that their funding allocations for services will not be used to increase staff pay rates.
Not-for-profit organisations are relied upon to provide education, family support, health, social care, local development, arts and culture, disability services and a range of other crucial services of vital importance to communities around Ireland. We depend on our staff in doing so but we can do nothing to support them in their own struggles with increasing daily costs.
Why is the escalating cost of living being experienced by everyone not recognised for our staff and pay increases funded? Could it be that it is an invisible sector, made up of invisible women? We are a sector serving clients many of which live in poverty and are often women. In An Cosán over 80 per cent of our learners are women from some of the most excluded communities in Ireland. The wider community education sector engages with 33,000 leaners annually, of which 77 per cent are female. And 79 per cent of parents accessing our early years education and care services are women. If our staff are invisible to those allocating resources, what does it say about the value decision makers attach to meeting the needs of our learners and parents?
By all means let’s celebrate International Women’s Day and transparently represent the gender pay gap within each employment. But let’s also call attention to the gender divide that sees the not-for-profit sector and the communities it serves all but ignored in this analysis and, even more seriously, excluded from the employment conditions and pay increases those in other employments are rightfully receiving.
Heydi Foster is the Chief Executive of An Cosán, Ireland’s largest community education provider and a Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission since 2014.