A fair and equal society has not yet been created in the North although the creation of "far-reaching and unique structures" has helped move in that direction, the chief commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Ms Joan Harbison, told the Colmcille Winter School.
She said a measure of hope could be drawn from the place now given to equality issues although there was no room for complacency. Long-standing inequalities in the North had been of an "obvious and serious nature" and had inflicted "very real harm" on the cohesion and stability of the community.
Tracing the history of legislation brought in since the 1970s, Ms Harbison said that for decades in the Northern Ireland state, issues of religious discrimination and inequality in employment and housing were the subject of political argument.
"The right to discriminate on religious grounds was occasionally openly justified in terms which would now be unthinkable," she said.
Catholic participation in the workforce has risen to 39.1 per cent, as compared to 34.9 per cent in 1991 when monitoring began. The proportion of Catholics available for work is estimated at 42 per cent. Reports, conducted under fair employment legislation, have also shown a reduction in the degree of segregation in the workforce.
Women's participation has also changed significantly. In 1971, only 43 per cent of women participated in the labour market, compared to 91 per cent of men. The equivalent figure for married women was 31.9 per cent. For women generally now the figure has risen to 56 per cent, and 55 per cent for married women.
Ms Harbison said that in recent years there had been "enormous changes" in the way recruitment was carried out in the majority of workplaces. She said however that "substantial structural inequalities" remained. As well as achieving fair participation within the workforce, the disproportionately large percentage of Catholics who are unemployed had to be lowered.
Women remained concentrated in the lower-paid, lower-status occupations. Minority ethnic groups, including Travellers, still had access impeded to a wide range of services.