It is Government policy to have at least 40 per cent of both men and women in appointments to State boards and the Government requested the social partners to observe this gender balance in making nominations to the National Economic and Social Council, NESC. There are currently 33 members of the council, with a full membership of 34 if a nominee of the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, is agreed. Of the 33 appointed members, 12 are women, which represents 36 per cent of the membership. If the NYCI nominate a female, as requested, then the female representation will rise to 38 per cent.
The other social partners have made efforts to enhance the proportion of women in their representation on the council. I accept the difficulty that an organisation which only has one representative may have with this Government policy, however, as the representative from the NYCI has always been male, I decided to request it to nominate a female representative for this term of the NESC. I have indicated to the NYCI that it may wish to nominate a male alternative for a female member of the council as a means of overcoming any difficulty. Following this suggestion I have received no further correspondence from the NYCI and I await hearing from it.
The Government's gender balance policy helps the achievement of equality between men and women because it will result in greater access by women to important decision making roles in Irish society.
