Another plank is being put in place to comfort yet another political constituency in the immediate run- up to the general election. The Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality and Disability, Ms Mary Wallace, launched the Government's Draft National Plan for Women 2001-2005 before a predominantly female audience in Dublin Castle yesterday. The launch had been postponed a fortnight earlier to make way for a matter perceived to be of greater political importance: the Taoiseach's announcement of the abortion referendum.
Almost four-and-a-half years into office, the aim of yesterday's draft document is to guide and inform a consultation process which will lead to a national forum next February and the production of a National Plan for the Women of Ireland next Spring. The whole idea of the action plan had its origins back in 1995 at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, one of the largest global conferences ever held.
The Minister of State conceded yesterday that the necessity for what is, in effect, a third national plan proves that there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in Irish society. The pioneering work of the first Commission on the status of women in the 1970s and the second Commission in the 1980s has not yet borne fruit. New research carried out by Dr Yvonne Galligan concludes that three-quarters of the 211 recommendations of the latter were implemented and/or on the policy agenda by 1999/2000, one-fifth are outstanding and a small number are obsolete.
The latest draft plan for the new century is high on aspirations and low on the specifics to achieve them. The statistics tell the real story. There are three women Cabinet Ministers - the highest number ever - out of 15. Some 13 per cent of TDs, 18 per cent of Senators, 3 per cent of county/city managers and 15 per cent of councillors are women. Some 3 per cent of managing directors in corporate Ireland, 3 per cent of professors/ associate professors in university medical faculties, 5 per cent of professors on higher education academic staff, 6 per cent of officers in the Defence Forces and 9 per cent of secretaries general in the Civil Service are women. There is a better gender-balance in the Supreme Court - 29 per cent of members in 2000 are women - than in any Government or Dβil in the history of the State.
Despite all the commissions, some statistics never change. The majority of female students chose the softer social subjects in universities. Female-headed households - be they single, lone parent or other - have the highest percentage below the 50 per cent poverty line. And the female wage is still only 84.5 per cent of the male. The Government has a serious agenda still to address.