Bernard Allen
Question:338 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the recent progress made in incorporating equal opportunities for men and women into all policies and activities of the Government. [7314/98]
Written Answers. - Equal Opportunities.
One of the aims of the Government's equal opportunities strategy is to promote the integration of equal opportunities for women and men into all aspects of public policy. The policy known as mainstreaming, is an important element of both the Partnership 2000 Agreement and the EU Fourth Medium Term Action Programme on equal opportunities.
Partnership 2000 contains a commitment to developing a strategy which enhances equality of opportunity and develops a framework to pursue the full integration of women, among other groups, into Irish Society using a number of mechanisms including legislation. The Employment Equality Bill, 1997, recently passed all stages in the Seanad. The Bill's Second Stage will be taken in the Dáil on Wednesday, 25 March 1998.
The Bill contains a provision which allows an employer to put in place positive action measures to promote equal opportunities, particularly those geared to removing existing inequalities which affect women's opportunities in access to employment, vocational training and promotion.
The aim of the Fourth Action Programme, which was launched during Ireland's 1996 Presidency of the EU, is to progress equal opportunities for men and women by mobilising all of the participants involved, by promoting the reconciliation of work and family life and by promoting a greater degree of gender balance in decision making. The programme seeks to achieve these objectives by supporting the exchange of experience and information between the various EU member states.
Other non-legislative initiatives currently being undertaken by this Department in pursuit of the integration of equal opportunities into public policy include:- The Gender Equality Monitoring Committee, comprising Departmental representatives, social partners and women's organisations was established to oversee implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action; it is proposed to publish the third report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women later this year; the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform monitors the position of women on State boards on an ongoing basis. At end December 1997, according to the analysis, women constituted 28 per cent of total membership of State boards and 35 per cent of Ministerial-Government nominees; it is intended to continue the policy objective of gender balance on State boards, with a minimum target of 40 per cent of women and men in direct appointments; the Department participates in the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which is responsible for monitoring follow-up to the Beijing Conference. Each year the UN Commission on the Status of Women examines several of the critical areas of concern in the Platform for Action to assess progress and recommend priorities for accelerating implementation and an Expert Working Group on childcare, involving all the relevant interests and chaired by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has been established and is currently working on devising a national framework for the development of the childcare sector.