Minister Lynch calls on the Cabinet for renewed effortAt its Cabinet meeting this morning, the Minister of State for Equality, Ms. Kathleen Lynch T.D., told the Government that there is a real need for each Department and its Minister to strengthen efforts to appoint women to the country’s State Boards, if the Government is to reach its own target of 40 per cent by 2016.
At the end of 2011, women filled just below 34 per cent of these seats. Minster Lynch reminded the Ministerial team that the 40 per cent goal was first set some 20 years ago. Statistics have now been tracked annually for ten years. The Minister pointed out that, while there was good progress in the beginning and this has continued in some Departments, the overall outcomes aggregated across all Departments, had been at roughly the same level of 33/34 per cent for the past six years.
The Minister noted that there is still a wide variation in the composition of Boards between Departments. Those with a social focus – health, education and the social services – are more likely to have a higher female representation, while the economic Departments are much below the average.
Minister Lynch has long been an advocate for the advancement of women. She hosted a very successful conference on the topic of women in politics earlier this year, while she also took place in a Council of Ministers’ policy debate on the role of women on corporate boards, related to Commission Vice President Reding’s initiative in February this year.
Speaking about the importance of increasing women’s presence on State Boards, Minister Lynch noted that Ireland has one of the best educated female populations in the world, with women playing leadership roles in many diverse and challenging areas at home and abroad. She firmly believes that many of the State Boards should welcome, and would benefit from, the vision of these experienced women.
The Minister also advised the Government that the voluntary “Board Diversity Initiative: Making Women Visible” had assembled a portfolio of CV's of women from a wide range of backgrounds who were ready to be considered for board positions. “There really is no excuse not to see real progress on this Government commitment in 2013”, she said.
18 December 2012
ENDS
Note for editors:
These data are collated by the Department of Justice and Equality.
The key statistics for 2011 are appended.
ENDS
Note for editors:
These data are collated by the Department of Justice and Equality.
The key statistics for 2011 are appended.
Membership of State Boards by Gender on 31 December 2011
Current members by gender Gender of Chairpersons
Department Number of Boards Total number of places on Boards Board positions currently vacant Men Women Current Total Women as % of Current Total Male Women Total Women As % of Total
Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine 12 121 4 94 23 117 20% 9 2 11 18.2%
Dept of Arts ,Heritage and the Gaeltacht 17 245 19 142 84 226 37.2% 15 2 17 11.8%
Dept of Communications, Energy& Natural Resources 18 168 20 110 38 148 25.7% 16 2 18 11.1%
Dept of Children & Youth Affairs 4 45 14 15 16 31 51.6% 2 0 2 0.0%
Dept of Defence 2 17 0 11 6 17 35.3% 2 0 2 0.0%
Dept of Education and Skills 50 919 28 560 331 891 37.1% 44 6 50 12.0%
Dept of Jobs Enterprise & Innovation 14 273 18 184 71 255 27.8% 8 5 13 38.5%
Dept of Environment Community & Local Government 22 278 15 172 91 263 34.6% 13 9 22 40.9%
Dept of Finance 13 99 8 73 18 91 19.8% 12 1 13 7.7%
Dept of Health 35 485 84 223 178 401 44.4% 25 8 33 24.2%
Dept of Justice & Equality 42 357 66 185 106 291 36.4% 25 13 38 34.2%
Dept of Social Protection 3 37 1 20 16 36 44.4% 1 2 3 66.7%
Dept of the Taoiseach 2 42 2 28 12 40 30.0% 1 1 2 50.0%
Dept of Transport Tourism & Sport 33 330 21 237 72 309 23.3% 29 4 33 12.1%
Dept of Public Expenditure 5 48 2 35 11 46 23.9% 5 0 5 0.0%
TOTALS 272 3,464 302 2,089 1,073 3,162 33.9% 207 55 262 21.0%