Vol. 440 No. 4
381 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Education the provision made to ensure equal participation between women and men on all human resource programmes co-funded by the European Union in 1994-1995; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
My Department is committed to the principle of equal opportunities for both sexes in the provision of education and training. Equality policy informs the operation of ESF programmes and all institutions participating in these programmes are urged to pay particular attention to this in the planning of courses and the recruitment of trainees, together with the need to expose both sexes to a broader range of occupational experiences than those traditionally offered. Equality modules are featured in pre-service and inservice training programmes for staff, and the criteria for admission of students to programmes are applied equally to both sexes. Females represent 45 per cent of total participants across the range of ESF-aided programmes in the education sector.
My Department has an equality committee which promotes a range of equality measures across all levels of the system. These actions focus on such areas as administration, employment, management, curricula, teaching materials, inservice and pre-service training, inspection, research, and pilot projects to encourage the non-traditional subject choices.
