Precarious employment is a key driver of gender and other inequalities among those working in the third level sector, a new report has found.
The Second National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education has found that since an initial study of the issue was carried out in 2016, the impact of precarious employment on career development has emerged as one of two key issues that now need to be addressed as a matter of priority.
It also found that higher education institutions in Ireland are devising "carefully worded contracts" to avoid their legal responsibilities in the area and contest them in the courts.
Pointing out that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of permanent employment in Europe, it finds that insecure work contracts are "a significant and overlooked gender equality issue in the Irish HE system".
It says a wide range of higher education staff, including postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, lecturers, and professional, support and administrative workers are being affected by "the inappropriate use of fixed-term, insecure contracts to fulfil core HE functions".
Quoting from an academic study, it states that women are more likely than men "to perform the most exploited and tenuous forms of precarious work, work that is essential but not valued, paid lower, often comes without benefits or legal protections and in effect blocks chances of accessing secure positions".
It says research indicates that precarious employment makes women more vulnerable to workplace harassment, lack of salary progression, career disruption and stagnation, mental health difficulties, unemployment, in-work poverty, financial dependency on others, and penalties for having caring responsibilities.
While workers are legally entitled to long-term employment after a few years of fixed-term contracts, the report also says higher education institutions are using "carefully worded contracts to avoid CID (Contract of Indefinite Duration) entitlements and contest them in the courts".
It states that precarious employment practices need to be acknowledged and addressed if gender inequality is to be tackled.
A second issue that it says has emerged as key to the advancement of gender equality in the sector is the need to take an intersectional approach and not just as an 'add-on' to gender equality initiatives.
By intersectional, it means looking not just at gender equality, but at the experience of a wide variety of groups, including racial minorities.
"Gender equality initiatives should start from the principle of meaningfully addressing the dynamic and interacting experiences of advantage and inequality of different women in different contexts," it states, advising that otherwise policies run the risk of only prioritising comparatively advantaged women.
The report states that while there has been "some significant progress" made on a number of key indicators in a number of institutions", that experience "has neither been uniform in relation to all indicators, nor across the entire HEI landscape".
It says the implementation of its recommendations is perhaps more important than ever as the sector emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions have had a significant impact on gender equality and have the potential to have further implications in the future", it states, referencing the fact that many staff – and especially female staff - were forced to care for dependents in the home and were still being asked to work remotely to a normal schedule.
"This situation may have detrimental effects both in the short- to medium-term (on a person's health and well-being) and in the longer term (lack of research productivity hampering career progression)," it notes, citing evidence that has emerged internationally that during the Covid-19 restrictions, women researchers submitted fewer academic papers than men.
The report was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority.
The Irish Universities Association has said it will now review the report's recommendations and consider how they may be advanced, "noting that a number of recommendations, cover new issues that require further consideration".
It said it acknowledged the findings of the group that significant work remains to be done.
"We welcome the specific identification of the broadened scope of gender equality work to include intersectional equality issues, dignity and respect, and job security throughout the career life cycle," the IUA said.
