THE average hourly earnings of women working in manufacturing industry is only 70 per cent of that earned by men, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform revealed.

Mr Taylor said that in other sectors women's earnings were only 80 per cent of those of men, with half of the 20 per cent difference attributed to factors such as skill, hours worked, length of service and experience. It was likely that the remaining 10 per cent of the discrepancy was the result of pay discrimination, he added.

As in other European countries, Ireland had experienced a strong increase in labour market growth, with employment growing by 8 1/2 per cent between 1991 and 1995, said Mr Taylor. The increase in the employment of women had been in the order of 20 per cent.

However, growth in jobs had been concentrated in low-paid, part-time and other atypical work, and it was to those jobs that many of the new entrants to the workforce, primarily women, were recruited.

"So far as gender equality is concerned, we are at a cross-roads. The days are long past when it is socially or politically acceptable to justify unequal treatment by reference to differences in biological or social function. However, acceptance of the principle of equality does not appear to have been matched with practical action to achieve it."

Mr Taylor said there was need for continued vigilance by women, their representative organisations, employers and State agencies to ensure acceptance of the principle of equality was matched by a real will to eliminate discrimination.

The Minister was introducing the Employment Equality Bill, which prohibits discrimination on a wide variety of grounds, including gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the travelling community.

Mr Taylor said he was confident the Bill would give the issue of equality in the workplace a considerably greater profile. Following its enactment, he looked forward to an increasingly active role being taken by more individual women in defending and advancing their own interests and rights in the workplace.

In developing the Bill, he had regard to the individual rights based approach in existing gender employment equality legislation, he said. He had also taken note of British racial equality legislation and the various approaches adopted to deal with discrimination in other EU members states, in Australia and the US.

The Fianna Fail spokesman on equality and law reform, Dr Michael Woods, expressed reservations about some the proposals.

The Bill was "cumbersome, legalistic and complex". It failed to address the key employment issues which confronted people with disabilities, over 80 per cent of whom were unemployed. "This is a national disgrace and a real scandal." Concern had also been expressed that the medical definition of disability would lead to medical assessments for all disabled people who were seeking employment.

The PD spokeswoman on equality and law reform, Ms Helen Keogh, said the Bill had already alarmed many groups, especially those concerned about disability. Despite advice and expectations, the Minister had insisted on a medical definition of disability.

Mr Eric Byrne (DL, Dublin South Central) said it outlawed discrimination on nine grounds and then exempted institutions under religious control from all but three of them.