Evelyn Owens is widely acknowledged as one of the great champions of Irish women's rights. Over a 50-year career, she has managed to pick up a lot of "firsts". The first female chairman of the Labour Court and the first woman Leas Cathaoirleach of Seanad Eireann, are among her most high-profile accolades. Next August, she will retire. She says it's now time to do different things with her life, and is looking forward to devoting more time to travel, listening to music and a spot of gardening. "If I have helped any other woman along the way, that will be my satisfaction."

Ms Owens firmly believes in role models. "Every woman who has achieved a first helps other women," she insists. Over the course of her career she has witnessed and fought to ensure greater equality for women in Irish society.

She began her working life in 1948 as a clerical officer with Dublin Corporation. In the early years, she enjoyed the job and was more inclined to focus her energies on socialising. Some years later though she became involved in the Irish Local Government Officials Union, now part of Impact.

"The 1960s were very difficult for women. There were no networks. Few were members of trade unions and those that were tended not to be very active. It was very much seen as a role for the men and boys."

Men and women working at the Corporation at that time enjoyed equal pay, but women were very much the minority at that time.

In 1963, proposals to upset that status quo emerged in the course of arbitration. It had been decided to introduce two scales for employees, where males would be paid a higher wage than their female colleagues.

News of the impending changes were greeted with "shock and amazement" according to Ms Owens. "We felt our male colleagues had let us down." The rationale for the move later filtered back. The arbitrators had originally decided to bring in two scales, one for married people and one for single workers, but were told they would never get it approved. "The single fellas would never accept it." And different scales for men and women became the preferred option.

"That was an awful insult. It really politicised me and was the issue that set me off for better or for worse." The proposal was bitterly resisted and after some industrial action was never implemented. Ms Owens had firmly turned her attentions to women's issues by that time, and in 1967 became president of the LGPSU and was on the advisory committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

Recounting her involvement with ICTU, Ms Owens, says she remembers getting into trouble for raising the issue of introducing a minimum wage. At that time, such a proposition was viewed as "heresy" within the trade union movement because they believed that workers would only be paid the fixed rate, she says.

Last year, she was appointed chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission. The body has issued its report and the Government has promised to introduce a national minimum wage as soon as possible, with the backing of the unions.

She says she is "delighted that they have seen the light".

In what she describes as the second phase of her career, Ms Owens, accepted a nomination to run for Seanad Eireann in 1969. "I really knew nothing about it. But from my experience I would warn anyone thinking of running to think hard about it. The campaign is an absolute nightmare. It's the most ludicrous way of electing people."

She quickly learned that securing her seat involved travelling throughout the Republic, meeting county councillors and trying to secure as many votes as possible. Her campaign was successful and she entered the Seanad the same day as Mrs Mary Robinson, bringing the total number of female representatives there to five.

Throughout her time there she always enjoyed equal treatment. "I was treated in the same way as the men, I got the rough with the smooth the same as everyone else."

She was subsequently re-elected and went on to become the first woman Leas Cathaoirleach. Ms Owens spent eight years as a Senator, an experience which gave her an insight into how politics works. This was something she carried with her to the Labour Court. In the 1977 election, she failed to regain her seat and concentrated on her role in the Corporation. During her tenure at the Seanad, she still remained an employee and was allowed time off to attend the sessions.

But the Seanad involvement, she believes, was not exactly career enhancing. "When I went for interviews for jobs there was a view that I was only a part timer. Maybe that was an excuse. Maybe I wouldn't have got the job anyway." Before joining the Labour Court in 1984, she had risen to the "bottom of the top pile" at the Corporation.

The offer to become an officer of the court was warmly accepted and presented a tremendous challenge.

She immediately found herself at "the deep end" hearing cases. She has never harboured any regrets about her current career.

In 1994, she became the first woman appointed as chairman and has been involved in many high-profile and difficult disputes, including those at TEAM Aer Lingus and the nursing profession.

"Averting a strike gives you the greatest satisfaction. It is important that everyone feels they get a fair hearing and I do hope that they feel that way."

Asked about the highs and lows during her tenure there, she mentions the court's interpretation of legislation to deal with constructive dismissal in relation to a case brought by a young woman who had been the subject of sexual harassment.

There were provisions within the Act to deal with this, but the court was able to give a definition that employees should be free from sexual harassment. The young woman, she says, was extremely brave, having to recount her ordeal in front of her boss and his wife. A few years ago, the court made a ruling against a female employer for the sexual harassment of a young male employee.

Ms Owens believes Europe has been very good for Irish women, ensuring equality of pay under the Treaty of Rome, and the many other directives that have now been handed down.

But she says that despite the many achievements, the equal pay issue is far from over.

She also questions just how much of a contribution the feminist movement has made to working women, particularly those with families.

"While things have improved, many working women end up trying to juggle about three careers and are still the ones who have to take time off to look after sick children. I was fortunate that I never married or had children and was not under the awful pressure that some women must bear."

Looking to the future, she firmly believes the greater participation of women in politics is probably the most effective way to secure improved conditions. Commenting on recent cases taken by employees of State agencies for equal pay, Ms Owens, notes that both Ministers concerned the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke readily accepted the European Court's ruling on these cases. "I think this was significant."