Cork’s Lord Mayor joined the country’s top young debaters last night to talk about gender equality not only in Ireland but also in parts of the world where subjugation and slavery continue to blight the lives of girls and women.
He is to be congratulated on contributing to the event, because civic leaders, even locally, have a role to play in promoting what is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — stronger leadership and representation for women, the elimination of gender-based violence and, somewhat more problematic, equal distribution of domestic work.
How such activities in Ireland can assist in improving the lives of women in say, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Mali, remains to be seen. There is, though, progress to be made in our own small corners of the world. Clearly, there have been achievements: In the North, the Democratic Unionists are led by a woman, albeit not one whose management of renewable heating schemes has been anything to write home about; Sinn Féin will have a female leader next month; across the water, women run the governments in Edinburgh and Westminster; and RTÉ has unveiled this week an all-female line-up for its Late Debate show.
Against this, Leo Varadkar’s cabinet and junior ministerial ranks are overwhelmingly male, not that gender alone guarantees unique characteristics or qualities: Israel’s Golda Meir and Britain’s Margaret Thatcher were known and often ridiculed as the “only men” in their cabinets, while Ms May has yet to demonstrate that she’s even a half-way competent prime minister. But how well or badly women advance in the bear pits of politics and the entertainment industry is a small part of the picture; what matters are the lives of women in offices, factories, public services and in the home.
There has been progress in Ireland. The most recent data compiled by the Central Statistics Office suggest that more than 55% of all women aged between 25 and 34 years have a third-level qualification compared with 43% of men in the same age group. But that progress is not being reflected in pay scales: overall, women are paid 14% less than men. The pay gap is going in the wrong direction; the difference in 2012 was 12%.
The European Union — in a statement of the blindingly obvious — says Ireland’s women have more rights than their mothers and grandmothers, but also notes that men still dominate the workplace and are the main decision-makers in business, where, despite the lip service paid to equality, women often find themselves lagging behind in equal opportunities and pension rights.
There are limits to what official reports, reviews and equality legislation can achieve, especially when it comes to shaping a society in which domestic housework is shared equally. Encouraging aspiration — urging girls and women to push for progress — is also crucial. An outstanding example of how this can be done is the latest I Wish programme designed to support teachers in fostering an interest among female students in STEM — science, technology, engineering and maths — courses and careers, and is being publicised currently in Cork and Dublin.