Addressing a gender pay gap is not an instant fix

With more women needed in senior positions across the sector, the gender pay gap remains significant for agri-food companies. The mean gender pay gap for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was 9.7% in 2023.

For veterinarians and employees working in clinical practice, there was a gender pay gap of 10%.

Other companies had similar differences in their gender pay gap for 2023, with Teagasc reporting 11% , Tirlán 14.7%, Dairygold 9.8%, Arrabawn 5.8% and Kerry 4.8%.

From 2022, organisations with over 250 employees had to start providing information on their gender pay gap. Now in their third year of reporting, the focus in these companies has moved towards more detailed action planning, particularly around the challenge of changing representation at senior levels. This is the key contributing factor to gender pay gaps as more women are needed at higher levels.

“This is driving new conversations across the industry relating to target setting. The recent Origin Green sustainability conference called out the growing importance of diversity and inclusion targets for companies achieving gold status,” says Gillian Harford, county executive at 30% Club Ireland.

As of the start of 2024, organisations with over 150 employees are required to report on their gender pay gap.

Many companies in the agri-food sector fall into this category.

This means there is growing interest for companies and employers within the sector to understand the factors driving gender pay gaps as well as how to communicate and address them.

One of the key challenges across the agri-food industry is the under representation of women in particular functions, such as production, product development and strategy – roles that often serve as pathways to CEO and other high-paying leadership positions.

As a result, fewer women are in senior positions, which has a strong impact on gender pay gap reporting.

“Many companies in the sector are addressing this challenge by implementing targeted apprenticeship programmes and initiatives aimed at early career stages, but it will take time to yield greater gender diversity in senior roles,” says Gillian.

Companies that have been successful in achieving a better gender balance have focused on their systems and processes and removed some of the hidden barriers to career progress that might have been in place for previous generations of workers.

“As a society, we have also become more conscious of the needs of a modern workplace for women and for men. Typically, beyond policies based on legislation, most companies now have an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy and a focus on wellness as well as talent attraction policies and flexible/agile working,” says Gillian.

The area where she has seen the greatest growth and change in policy is for caring, family and career leave.

“It is interesting to see the more progressive companies focusing on integrating these policies into more of a ‘whole life’ approach where not all leave needs are child-based, especially in early career. There is also a growing need for elder care responsibilities in later careers,” she says.

In Ireland, many aspects of the transparency directive are already reflected in the system for gender pay gap reporting. However, in preparation for 2026, organisations with more than 250 employees should be considering three key aspects:

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