The National Women's Council of Ireland has called on women to challenge canvassing politicians on how they propose to reform the "male breadwinner" focus of the social welfare system.
Delegates at a regional seminar titled "What Women Want! - A woman's model for social welfare reform", held in Dundalk yesterday, heard that the current system does not promote gender equality and that reform is urgently needed.
The chairwoman of the NWCI, Ms Mary Kelly, said the social welfare system was based on a "male breadwinner" and "stay-at-home mother/wife" model.
"Although the Irish social welfare system is allegedly gender neutral, this model is incapable of taking into account the real life situations that women find themselves in with regard to care work, pensions and individual entitlements," she said.
For example, she said, people seeking part-time work were not allowed to claim unemployment benefit despite the fact that more than a quarter of the Irish workforce works part-time.
Delegates heard that Ireland had one of the poorest levels of childcare provision in the EU. Irish parents spend approximately 20 per cent of earnings on childcare, compared with an EU average of 8 per cent.
The seminar, which was attended by delegates from agencies and community groups from Monaghan, Meath, Louth and Cavan, put forward a model for a social welfare system that the women's council said would maximise labour participation, accommodate atypical work and also recognise and put a monetary value on parenting and other forms of care that women undertake.