Week unclouded. Leave changes, gender pay gaps and ‘millenopause’
News can be overwhelming to follow. Important news bites can get lost amongst all the hard and breaking news. Here are a couple of the headlines from this week that impact women.
It’s urgent! Shifting leave for family emergencies
Photo by Alex Boyd on Unsplash
As from April 2025 the amount of hours workers can take off to deal with urgent family matters will increase from 15 hours to 32 hours per year, the government announced.
This leave - that adds up to four eight-hour days - is not extra leave, however. It will be deducted from existing leave entitlements: The first 16 hours will be taken from annual vacation leave, while the remaining 16 hours will be taken from sick leave.
What is urgent leave? This is leave that can be taken to care for a family member, such as when children are unwell or elderly parents are sick. Employees must inform their employer when using this leave, and employers have the right to request proof to prevent system abuse.
Is this enough? Hmmm?
Fear of menopause. How younger women face ‘millenopause’
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
You must have heard about ‘menopause’. But have you ever heard of the term ‘millenopause’?
It refers to the fear of menopause that millenniums (now in their 30s and early 40s) are facing as they slowly approach the perimenopause and menopause years. Various articles, including one published in The Female Lead, have quoted how the open conversation by older women about menopause and its symptoms has been very therapeutic for those living it.
But it seems to be instilling fear and dread among the women who are not there yet… a bit like the tales of childbirth.
Here’s another conversation that needs to be had!
Mind the gap! Gender pay gap in caring jobs
Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash
The common perception is that caring jobs are mostly filled by women – which is true. But what is also true is that the higher-paying posts are mostly filled by men.
This emerged through data released by the National Statistics Office that showed that women in care occupations earned, on average, €7,622 less than men in 2023. This gap in salaries can be partially explained by the higher proportion of men in managerial and professional positions.
Care work refers to activities that address the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of adults and children. It includes university professors, doctors and dentists, childcare workers and personal care workers, among others.
In 2023, 10.9% of men were employed in care jobs as opposed to 32.7% of women. Yet that year, 50.5% of men in care jobs had higher-paying roles, compared to 44.4% of women. Women were twice as likely as men to be employed in lower-paying positions.
The data offers a clue into what could be another reason behind this gap: In 2023, 37.9% of women who were not working attributed their situation to family responsibilities. In the case of men, it was 1.5%.
One again it seems to boil down to gender roles.
Share your news
Do you have some women-related news you want to share? Or perhaps an idea or topic you feel deserves to be spoken about and ‘unclouded’? Or an inspiring story to share?
If so you can comment below or send an email on hello@womanunclouded.com so we can discuss how to get your voice heard.