Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Feb 1999

Vol. 499 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Employment Equality Legislation.

Ms O'Sullivan:

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to respond to this matter. An examination of women's participation in employment is timely given that it is 25 years since such legislation was introduced. There has been a dramatic increase in the participation of women but, unfortunately, it has not been accompanied by any great improvement in the number of women reaching the top or near the top in the various areas of employment. This is a cause for serious concern and needs to be addressed.

Despite the introduction of legislation and the fact that there is supposed to be equality in this area, there is still a relatively large gap between the earnings of women and men. For example, the average hourly industrial wage for men is £7.72 per hour but only £5.63 an hour for women. I urge the Minister to implement the Employment Equality Act. We completed the legislation in the summer of last year but, to the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been brought into force and we still do not have the necessary equality authority to allow women and the other eight categories included in the Act to exercise their right to equality in the labour force.

It is ironic that we are currently celebrating the fact that two women have risen to the top of their respective professions in the past week. Ms Ann McGuinness was appointed a county manager – she is one of 34 county managers, the rest of whom are men – and Ms Catherine Clancy was recently appointed as a Chief Superintendent in the Garda where there are more than 50 men at the same or higher levels. That is not much of a record. Other figures are no better; women hold only 4 per cent of senior management positions and account for only 4 per cent of university professors. If we look at health boards and a wide variety of other bodies, one will not see many women at the top. We must examine the reasons behind this and see whether we can make changes to eliminate the glass ceiling wherever it exists.

The Government should provide a lead in this area. Figures made available to me through a reply to a parliamentary question last year indicated that the number of women nominated to State boards by Government actually decreased in 1998. The number of female ministerial appointees was 35 per cent at the time the question was tabled in May. That represented a drop of 1 per cent on the previous year.

In the run up to Christmas, two important Government task forces were announced. One related to the implementation of Luas and the other to the beef industry. Only one woman was appointed between them. The Government should aim for an equal participation by men and women on such task forces and other Government bodies. If example does not come from the top, we will not get the required response down the line.

On the issue of child care, I welcome the fact that the report on child care by the Partnership 2000 working group will be published tomorrow and I look forward to seeing solid and useful proposals in it which will assist women to participate in the workforce.

I do not believe the parental leave legislation will make any real difference as it is not the paid leave. We were unable to provide for any kind of payment in that legislation other than force majeure. I urge the Minister to take note of the research which has been carried out on this issue. He should examine areas such as the Civil Service, local authorities, health boards and the Garda in which the State has a role to play and is, by and large, the paymaster. There is real scope for intervention in this regard.

I realise there is another side to the equality agenda. Men must be given their rights in regard to children and child care. It must also be acknowledged that they may be the victims of domestic violence and they must be accorded equal rights in this and other areas. This is a two way process and we have a long way to go. The Minister could start that process by bringing the Employment Equality Act into force immediately.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. There are very few Irish people who are not aware of what has been achieved in terms of equal opportunities for women in the Irish workforce since the enactment of the Employment Equality Act, 1977, more than 20 years ago. There are also very few of us who are entirely happy with the situation with regard to equal opportunities as it stands, and I would include myself in that number. We have achieved a great deal but there is still a long way to go. I am happy to say that my own Department has a role in the forefront of the advancement of the position of women in the workforce and of equal opportunities in employment generally.

The modern work environment comprises both men and women, some of whom are the sole bread winners while others contribute in equal measure with a partner to the economic support of family and home. The advancement of the position of women in employment has been helped by the partnership approach which we have adopted in relation to economic growth and social inclusion. The Government works with the social partners, including trade unions, employers and other sectoral groups to identify social issues which need to be addressed, to highlight them and to ensure that commitments in this area are followed up. The Partnership 2000 agreement includes commitments in relation to gender equality, child care and family friendly policies, all of which will, as they develop, help the position of women in the workforce. My Department is currently arranging a round table conference on the issue of family friendly employment policies which will involve the principal interested groups, including the social partners, with a view to focusing on progressing such policies in the future.

The importance of such measures is that they provide a more even playing field on which women and men can compete in the employment market and they work towards the elimination of forms of discrimination which were inherent in the more traditional workplace structures. Because women have traditionally borne the principal responsibility for child rearing, the structure of the world of work has always had the effect of discrimination.

My Department chaired the expert working group on child care which was established under Partnership 2000 in July 1997 to devise a national framework for the development of child care services in Ireland. The group finalised a report and recommendations in December 1998. The report will be launched tomorrow, 3 February 1999.

In accordance with a commitment in Partnership 2000 to support the growth of family friendly policies, my Department is arranging for a round table forum on family friendly policies in the workplace to be held on 25 February 1999 involving the social partners, relevant Departments and agencies and a number of public and private sector employers.

My Department, in co-operation with the EU, has developed a two year equal opportunities child care programme. This programme, which was launched in July 1998, involves expenditure of approximately £6 million and is aimed at developing locally based child care facilities to assist parents to reconcile family and working responsibilities and focuses particularly on the provision of those facilities in disadvantaged areas. Funding is also being provided from the European Social Fund and the Exchequer for the establishment of a national child care database. Furthermore, as a means of encouraging the supply of child care facilities, the 1999 budget included certain provisions for employers and private providers towards the cost of such facilities. In 1971 fewer than 27 per cent of women participated in the labour force. This compares with a participation rate of 45 per cent in 1997. I fully recognise that there has been a falling short in the achievement of equality of opportunities in the workplace for women, particularly with regard to their lack of success in reaching the upper echelons in enterprises. I am only too well aware that when it comes to female employment many of these jobs are concentrated in low paid part-time work. It is to such jobs that many of the new entrants to the workforce, who are primarily women, are recruited.

The number of women in key decision making roles in our public and private organisations is increasing but it is still too low. Women remain under-represented at board level in our major manufacturing and industrial concerns and it will be obvious to most of us that men continue to occupy the majority of management, professional and supervisory positions in the workplace.

The Employment Equality Act, 1998, which will come into operation later this year, makes specific provision for positive action programmes in the workplace on grounds of gender. Measures like these, combined with a close examination of greater flexibility in the workplace to which I have already referred, will ensure that the position of women in the workplace continues to improve. The Government's commitment to achieving greater gender balance on State boards has already seen a change from a position where, in 1992, women represented 17 per cent of Government appointees on State boards and 15 per cent of overall membership of State boards to a situation in 1998 where women represented 34 per cent of Government appointees to State boards and 28 per cent of the total. The Government's stated aim is that there will be a gender balance of at least 49 per cent on all State boards.

I would not like to give the impression to this House that I or my colleagues in Government are entirely happy with the greater progress for women's advancement in the workforce to date. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that considerable progress has been made and that each day and week that passes more progress is made.

One of the areas which continues to cause concern is the disparity between hourly rates of pay between men and women. In this regard my Department has commissioned the ESRI to undertake a study of the situation which I expect will be published in the autumn.

The task of creating a genuinely discrimination free workplace is one to which this Government and my Department are committed. The existing employment equality legislation, and the Employment Equality Act, 1998, which strengthens it, will continue to have a beneficial effect both in changing attitudes to discrimination in the workplace and in improving the participation rates of women at all levels. However, the elimination of overt discrimination is not enough. It is necessary to re-examine the structure of the world of work to see if we can redesign it for the benefit of women, of men and of families and society as a whole.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 3 February 1999.