Grannies forced out of work early to help with childcare

Much of the debate has been about mothers having to step away from work for childcare duties.

But recent studies suggest that over-55s stepping in to bail out their own children, when they become parents, may be a factor hindering older women from holding down jobs.

A recent ESRI study showed older women are five times more likely to leave work early for "care" reasons than men.

It also said research shows "relatives, predominantly grandmothers, provide a significant proportion of childcare in Ireland".

"Caring responsibilities for spouses, grandchildren or others can lead to early exits among older workers, especially if working conditions are incompatible with care," it said.

Older women between 50 and 60, we are told, are particularly vulnerable to depart if they provide more than 10 hours of care a week.

These "push factors", as it calls them, to leaving work early are "particularly relevant to the Irish case".

Overall, there are 1.1 million women in the labour force, but they represent just 56pc of the female working-age population, compared with 68pc of men. High childcare costs are being blamed.

This conjures up images of multi-tasking women juggling a work-life balance after maternity leave, only to find that high crèche fees mean it's not worth their while.

But the gender gap when it comes to participation rates is most pronounced among those between 45 and 59.

Overall, the number of over-55s at work has more than doubled in recent decades from 166,000 in 1998 to 413,000 last year. But 19pc of the male labour force are over 55, compared with just 12pc of the female labour force.

When it comes to early departures for those in their late-50s, retirement is the number one reason, with job losses, illness and disability next, followed by 7pc who left for child or family care reasons.

"We can't say with certainty why older women go," said ESRI author Ivan Privalko.

"But we know these people have been out of work for at least a year and are highly likely to have left the workforce, and women are far more likely to cite the care reason than men."

The Government aims to increase the overall participation rate among the over-55s from 34pc to over 38pc by 2025.

But the ESRI report said working lives cannot be extended without "some acknowledgement of women's disproportionate role in providing care".

It suggests there isn't time to hang around as "older women cannot be retained in the labour force if they have already exited in their child-bearing years".

However, they may be able but may not be willing.

Laura Bambrick of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions warned against making the assumption that women are "trapped" at home.

She said research by Solas showed almost 220,000 women between 20 and 64 are neither working or looking for paid work. "They are what the State's statistician described as 'on home duties'," she said.

"Over a quarter of these women have a third-level qualification, half of whom have at least one child five years old or younger.

"So while we can assume caring responsibility and the high costs of childcare for young families partly explains why so many women are outside of the labour force, interestingly Solas found most women on home duties do not want a job. They are not trapped at home."