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A Dublin for Families? . Dr Gráinne Collins Employment Research Centre Trinity College Dublin. To answer the question. Need to know how the following interact Work organization change Demographic and family structure change
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A Dublin for Families? Dr Gráinne Collins Employment Research Centre Trinity College Dublin Grainne Collins
To answer the question • Need to know how the following interact • Work organization change • Demographic and family structure change • Spatial changes (where do people live and work and how do they move between spaces) • Often been a concentration on only one aspect and not on interaction Grainne Collins
Research • No time-use statistics for Ireland • To answer the question ‘is Dublin family Friendly?’ we have to use a ‘patchwork’ of different research • Census • Surveys of families • Equality audits and surveys of companies Grainne Collins
Men and their Families (1) • Work* by Margret Fine Davies (TCD) shows that Dublin fathers spend a lot of hours away from their families in comparison to other European fathers. • Why? • Commute + working hours=long hours away from children • Women solved the problem by working closer to home * Small sample size Grainne Collins
Men and their Families (2) • An equality audit by myself and Josephine Browne shows that: • younger fathers are more likely to have working partners than their older counterparts. This means that they are less geographically or temporarily flexible as men once were and are ‘time-stressed’ Grainne Collins
Gender Pay Gap • Women continue to earn less than men because: • Women and men are in different sectors • Women are less likely to do overtime and more likely to take advantage of family flexible working (Indecon, 2002) Grainne Collins
Work in the ‘New Economy’ • Research by Lidia Greco (TCD)* • ICT sector is gendered (women find it hard to ‘fit in’, organisations are ‘time-greedy’, project work is ‘bulimic’ ) • And un-family friendly (men and women say they will only work in IT until they have children). *also similar findings by Pascal Preston at DCU Grainne Collins
Gentrification and suburbanisation • Certain areas of the city have experienced a renaissance • Analysis of the census shows that once ‘education poor’ areas now have lots of people with degrees • But these educated people don’t have children • Children are in families that don’t have degrees Grainne Collins
From patchwork to consistent story • Educated couples move to the suburbs when they have children • Women ‘down shift’ (less stressful job closer to home, maybe part-time) • Men continue to commute • This results in • Women losing income • Men losing time with their children • Poor areas losing educated residents • The economy losing vital resources Grainne Collins
Is Dublin family-friendly? • Spatial changes have tackled many of the old inequalities • However they have not caught up with the new work organisational changes and the new families Grainne Collins
The challenge for City-Regions • The new challenge is not just to be women friendly but to be also parent and family friendly. • First step is recognising families and work has changed • Build ‘family’ homes close to work • Locate work close to families • Reduce commuting times Grainne Collins