Politicians didn’t give a damn how budgets hit women

SO NOW there is proof that women bore the brunt of the crash – as the mainly male government parties divvied out the cuts.

It’s shocking that some women lost up to 16pc of their income over the last decade as Fianna Fáil and the Greens, in particular, wielded the axe on welfare and pushed up tax.

On average, women lost 9pc. Men did not get off scotfree, but a lot more lightly as their income slumped by 6pc.

But there are bigger gaps when it comes to certain groups. Married women with children lost 16pc as a result of the last decade of budgetary policy, compared with 6pc for married men with kids.

Lone parents, who are mainly women, lost 11pc, compared with single men and women without children, who are down 6pc.

And let’s not forget that women already earn 14pc less than men on average.

None of the main political parties can claim to have done us any favours despite their female networks and attempts to portray themselves as our champions.

The glow that seemed to surround Fine Gael’s ministers after the abortion referendum has turned ghostly pale since the cervical cancer scandal. But to be fair to the party on this occasion, the new ESRI study says that reforms since 2013 have been more “gender-neutral”.

However, it also says welfare hikes have failed to keep pace with inflation during the recovery. One of the report’s authors, Dr Karina Doorley, gives hope things can only get better.

She says a “gender budgeting tool” has been developed as part of the research which would allow the impact of future budgets to be judged on a gender basis.

Annette Connolly, director of the office, assures us that Government commitments to improve equality will enable gender proofing in budget 2020 and beyond.

It’s a pity nobody in power seems to have given a tuppenny damn about it over the last 10 years.