Significant progress has been made in the representation of women on State boards and at higher levels of the Civil Service, according to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Paul Cullen reports.
However, Mr McDowell said the involvement of women at the top of private companies in Ireland was significantly lower than in the US or the UK.
In a speech to mark International Women's Day yesterday, the Minister conceded that there was still a long way to go toward the attainment of full gender equality in Irish society, though the Government had made progress in reaching its goals on gender equality. In the Civil Service, the target is for one-third of assistant principal posts to be filled by women by June 2005, as research has shown they tend to remain clustered below this grade. Mr McDowell said that in the 10 years up to 1997, the percentage of women in the grade increased by only 1 per cent, to 24 per cent.
However, after the target was set, the figure increased to 27 per cent in 2000 and to 35 per cent in September 2002. The overall percentage of women appointed by ministers to State boards stood at 36 per cent for the last quarter of 2003. Of 15 Government Departments, only six achieved or exceeded the 40 per cent target. According to recent research, the percentage of women on the boards of Ireland's top 150 companies was only 5 per cent, much lower than in the US or the UK.
Larger companies seemed to be more willing to appoint women: 20 of the top 50 Irish companies had women directors, but only 12 of the next ranking 50 companies did.
The Minister said his Department was currently "scoping" a National Women's Strategy as the framework for Ireland's gender equality agenda in the coming years.