Thank you to the National Women’s Council for the invitation and the opportunity to make these few short remarks. Let me also echo those sentiments of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
I want to acknowledge their work and that of numerous other women’s groups and campaigners for their strident advocacy for women’s rights over many decades.
Notwithstanding all of this work, and despite the fact that women are in the majority in this country, for every 100 women in Ireland, there are 98 men. Ireland is still a country run by a majority of men with all our key decisions taken by a majority of men.
Gender inequality permeates every aspect of our society and is deeply embedded in our governance structures.
Women are grossly under-represented in nearly all spheres of influence, including at Cabinet- level where women only have a 25% presence.
When we look at our Political Life: Women account for only 23% of our Oireachtas members and just under 24% of our Local Authority representatives.
Looking at our Business Community we find that 87% of CEO’s are men and 86% Board Chairpersons are men.
When we consider our Justice system, we have 167 Judges in place but only 63 of them are women.When you look at our Health system we find 2/3 of our senior Consultants are men.
When you look at the Trade Union Movement women leaders are in the minority despite a marginal majority in female membership.
In our Labour Market there is not a large difference between the numbers of men and women at work, however, we have a gender Pay Gap of just over 14% which means:For every €1 men in Ireland earn, women earn 86 cent.
One of the main, reasons for this is that without adequate and affordable childcare services, women are often forced to work fewer hours because they carry a hugely disproportionate burden of caring responsibilities.
So, this is the reality for women in this country and it is wholly unacceptable. If we are to achieve gender equality it needs to be addressed urgently.
And we need to achieve equality because Women’s Rights are Human Rights.
These Human rights need to be respected, protected, and promoted.
Tragically and shamefully in this the 21st century, in a rich and prosperous Ireland, women continuously experience the violation of these rights.
They are raped, they are murdered, they are sexually assaulted, they are stalked,
they are physically and mentally abused in their own homes, they are harassed in their workplaces.
So far, successive governments have not delivered satisfactory solutions to these issues and have also failed to ratify the ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment
Colleagues: All of us collectively can change this order but to do this:
We need to decide that this country should be governed by men and women equally,
we need to insist that women participate on a 50;50 basis at the highest possible levels up to and including Cabinet-level.
We need to challenge every political party or independent grouping to pledge that if in government they will commit to a 50:50 cabinet representation and 50;50 representation in senior policy developing posts.
We need a dedicated Ministry for Women to deliver a progressive policy focus on respecting, protecting, and promoting women’s rights.
We need the ratification of the ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment We share a common future with common aims lets go and deliver it together.
