'Disquiet' over national strategy for women

The Government's National Women's Strategy is fundamentally flawed because it includes no measurable targets or timescales, the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) has said.

The council said it viewed the strategy with "a sense of disquiet" because it did not address the issues of childcare and the representation of women in high-level positions in a meaningful way.

The council's head of policy, Orla O'Connor, said the document contained no defined targets on how to make childcare more affordable for women in Ireland.

She also said there was an absence of specific quotas to encourage women into decision-making structures.

She pointed to the example of the Dáil where it would take 370 years at the present rate of change for women to achieve equal representation.

"Such policies have worked successfully in other countries, such as Sweden, where there has been a significant increase in women's participation in political party membership, candidacy in elections and decision-making roles," Ms O'Connor said.

She added: "In the absence of imperatives such as measurable targets and timescales, the NWCI is concerned that the strategy will remain an aspirational document.

"The strategy provides 'actions' to deal with a wide range of women's inequalities, but it seems unlikely that these will be achieved without clear incrementally-assessed objectives for the 10-year duration of the strategy.

"Women in Ireland may, therefore, have to wait until 2016 to see if the Government has delivered on a strategy which aspires to an Ireland where all women enjoy equality with men and can achieve their full potential while enjoying a safe and fulfilling life."

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre broadly welcomed plans for a new office to prevent domestic violence.

However it said the remit of Cosc - the Irish Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence - should include all violence against women.

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief executive Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop said: "The term domestic does not cover what the broader remit of the office is supposed to be, ie violence against women and domestic violence."

She said it was good that the remit of the office had not been set in stone as there needed to be clarification as to how the office would work, how funding would be allocated and what non-governmental agencies would be involved with it.