The Taoiseach today launched the new policy on gender equality for the Civil Service to address imbalance at senior management levels.
|
|
Mr Bertie Ahern
|
Last year, women formed 70 per cent of the total numbers at clerical and executive grades in the Civil Service but at the assistant principal level and above, women comprised only 23 per cent.
Under a new policy unveiled by Mr Ahern, it is hoped one-third of assistant principal posts in the Civil Service will be filled by women by 2005.
Speaking at the launch, he said the emphasis was on targets and monitoring and implementation, "in contrast to the aspirations and the lip service of the past".
He said the new gender policy was "long overdue" but would put an end "to a culture that was unfair to women, was bad for the public service and bad for the country as a whole".
The policy stresses government departments have a legal and moral obligation to treat their staff fairly and to make certain that discriminatory practices are not allowed.