Only 27 per cent of those appointed to State scientific and industrial boards are women, despite an official minimum target of 40 per cent set by the Government in 1991. Alison Healy reports.
Some agencies such as the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Dublin Transportation Office still have no women on their boards.
Others, such as Bord Bia, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food Safety Authority have seen female membership of boards fall in the past six years.
The voluntary group, Women in Technology and Science, (WITS) criticised the figures yesterday, saying equality would never be reached at that pace.
Dr Eucharia Meehan, spokeswoman for WITS said these boards were only working with half the available talent, yet the situation was tolerated.
"If Brian Kerr were to select the Irish soccer team and only look at half the available talent, there'd be uproar. And if this were Northern Ireland, and we were looking at boards with only 25 per cent of nationalists, there'd be an outcry," she said.
She was speaking at the launch of the Talent Bank - a directory of over 150 women who are putting themselves forward for appointment to State boards and authorities.
The women come from the public and private sectors and have expertise in science, engineering and technology.
The directory includes names such as Ms Danuta Gray, chief executive of O2, Ms Sheila Willis, head of the Forensic Science Laboratory and Ms Angela Kennedy, chairwoman of the Small Firms Association.
The directory will be issued to all Government ministers, regional and local authorities, academic institutions and organisations such as IBEC, IFA, CIF and trade unions.
It was welcomed by Forfás, the policy advisory board for science, trade and technology. Mr Martin Cronin, Forfás chief executive, said Ireland had to recognise the role of gender diversity if it was to earn recognition as a location for academic excellence.
Ms Elizabeth Creed, WITS Talent Bank project manager, said WITS would prefer if there were no need for quotas or legislation.
"But we believe there does need to be monitoring of appointments at all levels. The appointment process must be more transparent and information about appointments should be readily available," she said.
Ms Creed pointed out that most of the bodies that nominated people to State boards were dominated by men.
"They tend to appoint people they know, and those people are usually other men." That could be solved with the appointment of more women chairpersons, she said.
Prof Joyce O'Connor, president of the National College of Ireland, said the Talent Bank was "a marvellous showcase of the talent and expertise of Irish women working in the fields of technology and science".
The launch also heard that women only accounted for 20 per cent of the Government ministers and just 6 per cent of Ministers of State.