Three political parties, ICTU and RTE are among the beneficiaries of £7.1 million in Government grants to promote women in areas including education, employment and decision-making.
Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein will collectively receive £200,000 for projects until 2003 aimed at increasing the numbers of women decision-makers and public representatives.
About one in 10 Fianna Fail and Fine Gael TDs are women. Fianna Fail has been allocated £105,000 "to develop new party structures and policies that enable greater participation of women in political life". Fine Gael will receive £75,000 to increase the number of women public representatives and those in decision-making roles. Sinn Fein's National Women's Forum has received £20,000 to "correct a significant gender imbalance in the decision-making process in political party structures and in the peace process".
A total of 49 projects will share the first phase of grants under the Equality for Women Measure of the National Development Plan which were announced yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.
Other grant recipients include groups working with refugee women, prostitutes and women with disabilities. RTE has been allocated £200,000 for a "systematic audit of internal organisational factors bearing on the promotion of equality for women". Women account for some 42 per cent of the national broadcaster's workforce, but this drops to 24 per cent in management grades. ICTU received one of the largest grants - £301,000 for a project aimed at reducing the pay gap between men and women. Women hold 5 per cent of senior management positions in private and public sectors.
A Fianna Fail spokesman said not enough women are coming forward to contest selection conventions throughout the political spectrum. "We have to take a long hard look at why and try to change that over the next 2 1/2 years of the project," he said. Asked when the party might expect to have a woman leader and Taoiseach, he replied: "It shouldn't be an impossibility within a reasonable period of time but it's obviously not the bottom line of this project."