ABSTRACT
Although there is overwhelming evidence of gender inequality in Northern Ireland, the situation has not remained static. Women are far from confined to the domestic sphere, but have been entering the world of paid work in ever-increasing numbers. In 1961, less than 30% of married women were in employment; by the 1990s, this had risen to 60%. In 1959, only 12% of mothers with pre-school age children were in the workforce; by 1990, 43% of this group had taken up jobs outside the home. While this is a much lower figure than the UK average (53%), this disparity may be due to the absence of opportunities for part-time work in Northern Ireland, rather than a result of 'traditional' or 'conservative' attitudes or ideologies. The evidence shows that a higher proportion of mothers of school-age children in Northern Ireland are in full-time employment compared with the average for the UK. In other respects, patterns of male and female engagement in paid employment and domestic labour appear to be emerging that are similar to those elsewhere in the UK. Women aspire to continue to work outside the home whether or not they have children. They hope to improve their conditions at work and to be promoted but tend to be hindered in their careers by factors such as the poverty trap and the lack of affordable childcare. This is not meant to suggest that life is problem-free for working women in Northern Ireland; on the contrary, there is a sexual division of employment opportunities which results in women being concentrated in a small number of - usually - low-paid occupations. Women's earnings have risen relative to men's, but, even excluding the effects of overtime, women in Northern Ireland still earn considerably less than men. Again, this pattern of inequality is similar to that prevailing in the rest of the UK and elsewhere.
