Written Answers - Beijing Plus Five.
Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:
154
Ms Fitzgerald
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the Government's response to the Inter Parliamentary Union's 12 suggestions for parliamentary follow-up to Beijing Plus five; the Government's response to each suggestion and action planned.
[12718/01]
Government action in meeting its obligations under the Beijing platform for action, in so far as it relates to the 12 suggestions made by the Interparliamentary Union, is set out here under the headings given by the Interparliamentary Union.
Informing parliament and parliamentary mechanisms for follow-up to the Beijing Process, suggestions one, five and six.
A wide-ranging debate took place in this House at the end of 1995 on the Beijing platform for action.
Members of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights formed part of the official delegation of Ireland to the United Nations general assembly special session "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century", Beijing plus five.
The Interparliamentary Union's 12 suggestions for parliamentary follow up to Beijing plus five was distributed at a meeting organised by the Interparliamentary Union in conjunction with the UN division for the advancement of women in New York at this event.
The Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights is charged, inter alia, with considering and reporting on “such matters relating to women's rights generally as it may decide and, in this regard, the joint committee is free to consider areas relating to any Government Department.” The joint committee established a sub-committee on Women's Rights to facilitate such consideration in July 1998.
Setting up of a non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive legislative framework, suggestion two.
Major pieces of rights-based legislation have been introduced in the last five years. These include the Employment Equality Act, 1998, and the Equal Status Act, 2000.
The Employment Equality Act, 1998, outlaws discrimination in relation to employment on nine grounds – gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community. This Act repeals and replaces the Employment Equality Act, 1977 and the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974. The Act, for example, 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. This is a significant development on the 1977 Act, which confined positive action measures to training.
The Equal Status Act, 2000, gives protection against discrimination in non-workplace areas and thus complements the Employment Equality Act, 1998. The Act prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on the same nine grounds as the Employment Equality Act, 1998. It deals with discrimination outside the employment context, including education, provision of goods, services and accommodation, disposal of property and private registered clubs. The Act covers all goods and services which are available to the public, whether on payment or not and irrespective of whether provided by the public sector or private sector.
Budgetary resources, suggestions three and four.
The question of addressing the inclusion of a gender perspective in budgetary proposals has been addressed by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, in response to a separate Parliamentary Question.
It is Government policy that the National Development Plan 2000-2006 which involves the spending of over £40 billion should support the achievement of equal opportunities between men and women. The goal of gender equality covers the whole plan including infrastructure and productive investment as well as the regional, human resources and peace programmes. The plan provides that project selection criteria must have regard to the equal opportunities objectives. The Government has also approved gender impact assessment guidelines to assist Government departments and implementing bodies in assessing the gender impact of their proposals.
A special unit has been established within my department to support all implementing departments and delivery agencies to meet the equal opportunity objective in their programmes, measures and initiatives. This unit, the equal opportunities promotion and monitoring unit, provides an advisory, training and information service on issues relating to gender and the national development plan. It also provides assistance to departments in carrying out gender impact assessment of policy proposals drawn up in the context of the national development plan. Funding of £4 million has been allocated from the national development plan for this purpose.
My department is also currently working on the development of a national plan for women for the period 2001 to 2005 which will be drawn up under the same priority actions or critical areas of concern as defined in the Beijing Platform for Action. Consultancy expertise has been engaged by my department to assist in drawing up a draft National Plan for Women, 2001-2005, which will be the basis for the consultation process. Finalisation of the national plan for women will involve a consultation process which will be as comprehensive and wide-ranging as possible.
Raising awareness and fuelling public debate, suggestions seven, eight and nine.
The consultation process, which will be held in connection with the national plan for women, will encourage public debate on the issues covered by the Beijing Platform for Action, as the national plan for women covers the same 12 critical areas of concern as the platform for action.
The Government is supportive of the work of the Interparliamentary Union, which comprises representatives of Governments worldwide. Ireland is represented by the Ceann Comhairle.
As I stated at the Special Session of the United Nations general assembly on "Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century" which took place in June last year to mark five years since the United Nations fourth world conference on women in Beijing in 1995, Ireland Aid has long realised that women bear the brunt of financial and social inequity. As part of the preparation of and follow up to Beijing, Ireland Aid undertook a major review of existing gender activities in its programme. This led to the adoption of formal gender guidelines in 1996. Ireland Aid's approach attempts to consider the impact on both women and men as an integral part of all projects, from planning to implementation to monitoring and evaluation.
The 1999 review of Ireland Aid carried out by the development assistance committee of the OECD favourably commented on Ireland's efforts to mainstream gender into our bilateral aid programmes. In addition, Ireland, together with its EU partners, continues to monitor EU projects to ensure that they comprehensively address gender issues.
Enhancing women's political participation, suggestions ten, 11 and 12.
Examples of measures taken by political parties to increase women's political participation include: establishing a women's group in each constituency with over 3,000 women members; giving full voting rights at candidate selection conventions to said women's groups; an action programme to encourage increased participation by women in politics and increased representation by women; appointing a Front Bench member with specific responsibility for gender proofing all party policy.
The Electoral Act, 1997, provides for the public funding of political parties. Payments made are deemed to include, inter alia, provision for the expenditure by the party in respect of the promotion of participation by women in political activity. Annual returns are required to be made to the Public Offices Commission indicating the matters to which the funding was applied, including the amounts applied to the participation by women in political activity.
The Equality for Women Measure, which my Department launched on 5 October 2000, also has provision for funding which can be availed of by political parties.
