Women still second ddle at work

26 March 2015

NTERNATIONAL Women’s Day (March 8th) pro-

vides us with an opportunity to reﬂect on issues

relating to gender equality and to take stock on

where progress has been made and the chal-

lenges that remain to be overcome. This is the

ﬁrst of two articles which assesses progress and chal-

lenges associated with women and the economy.

Ireland is ranked eighth out of 142 countries and

fourth out of the EU28 in the World Economic Forum

Global Gender Gap Report for 2014. The Global Gender

Gap Index, developed by the World Economic Forum, is

a useful framework for capturing the magnitude and

scope of gender-based disparities. The Index bench-

marks national gender gaps on economic, political,

educational and health

criteria. It looks at eco-

nomic-participation

and economic-op-

portunity deviation;

educational-attain-

ment deviation; health

and survival deviation

and political-empow-

erment deviation.

Gender equality

should be one of the

cornerstones of any

modern society, with

gender-equality poli-

cies ensuring women

and men enjoy the

same opportunities,

rights and obligations

in all areas of life. Eve-

ryone, regardless of gender, has the right to work and

support themselves, to balance career and family life,

and to live without the fear of abuse or violence. Gender

equality implies not only equal distribution between

men and women in all domains of society. It is also

about quality, ensuring that the most useful knowledge

and experience of both men and women are used to pro-

mote progress in all aspects of society.

Ireland scores high in the areas of educational attain-

ment in the Index. For example, just over 55% of women

aged between 25 and 34 have a third-level qualiﬁca-

tion compared to 43% of men. There is clearly a need

to improve the participation rates of men in third-level

education. However, despite advances in educational

attainment, traditional and stereotypical career expec-

tations for girls and boys still need to be addressed.

These inform subject and career choices. Gender seg-

regation in the uptake of speciﬁc subjects, particularly

in the ﬁelds of science, technology, engineering and

mathematics is still a major challenge that has yet to be

overcome. Not only are girls and young women a minor-

ity of students in these ﬁelds, qualiﬁed women are more

likely than men to leave these professions.

In health and survival Ireland also performs very

well. However, it’s important to highlight that there

are serious shortcomings in the area of women’s repro-

ductive rights. These can only be addressed through