Irish business is still failing women and must address issues like pay inequality and lack of promotional opportunities, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms Sile de Valera has said.
Ms de Valera said Irish business had yet to prove itself as accommodating for women as it had been for men. She pointed out that while Irish women constituted 41 per cent of the workforce, less than 5 per cent of top executives were female.
She added that studies across all grades and levels had shown an average wage differential of 20 per cent between male and female earnings.
"This imbalance must be addressed, by employers, by State agencies and by individual workers, if we are to truly create an inclusive society," she said.
She was speaking at the Leinster Business Institute's annual awards ceremony in Dublin .
She said pay inequality and the small number of women in upper management were caused by key obstacles like the "relative absence of female role models at senior levels in the workplace" and the "failure to recognise the need to accommodate more flexible and alternative work practices".
"The bulk of family responsibilities still falls on women in a relationship and it is crucial that family-friendly initiatives, such as adequate childcare and flexible working hours, should become standard features on the Irish employment scene," she said.
In the civil service, Ms de Valera said progress had been made since the "marriage bar" was abolished in 1973, but women's impact at the higher levels was "still unsatisfactory".
"From a base of 53 per cent at executive officer level, women's representation falls to 38 per cent at HEO level and to 24 per cent at assistant principal level", she said.
She said even though women represent 48 per cent of those working in the civil service, there has been only one female secretary-general appointed since 1959. "The introduction of flexitime and career breaks over the years does appear to have improved the situation but the importance of monitoring equality outcomes, and taking positive action cannot be stressed enough," she stated.
She said companies should regard providing flexible work practices as giving a competitive advantage, not as a "chore".
