Women constitute the largest single group that has been excluded from economic prosperity, the chairwoman of the National Women's Council of Ireland has claimed.
Ms Grainne Healy was speaking as the council made its pre-budget submission, We're Still Waiting ... for women to get a fair share, to Government. She said women continued to be "very highly represented in low-paid, part-time employment".
"We want this Budget to move women out of poverty and put more money in their pockets," she said.
Among the changes being called for by the council are the removal of all those on the minimum wage from the tax net; the introduction of a social insurance payment for parental leave at the rate of maternity benefit payment; and an increase in child benefit of £25 a week.
The reconciliation of work and family life was critical to gender equality, said Ms Healy, adding that the absence of "family-friendly policies" made it difficult for women to remain in paid work.
"The NWCI believes that the most effective way to solve the childcare crisis is to establish a State-subsidised childcare system. However, immediate financial supports are required to support parents to pay for childcare."
The submission also highlights the issue of equal access to healthcare, "if women are not to suffer relative disadvantage".
Pointing to the links between poverty and ill health, Ms Healy said women "frequently put the health of their family before their own".
Adding that breast cancer was the most common non-skin cancer among women in Ireland, she said one in 13 Irish women would develop the illness in their lifetime.
On this issue, the council is calling for a free, national breast and cervical screening programme for all teenage girls and women; the extension of medical cards to all dependent children under 18; and the setting of medical-card eligibility at levels which would ensure that the earnings of those on the national minimum wage would be eligible.
Other recommendations in the council's submission include increasing social welfare rates; recognition of carers' role; supporting women to return to employment; funding to support women's return to education; increased funding for efforts to combat violence against women; recognition of the cost of disability; and equal treatment for asylum-seekers in the social-welfare system.
