All women in Ireland have been urged to contribute to a three-month consultation process on a national plan to promote women's advancement.
Minister of State Ms Mary Wallace made the call yesterday at the publication of a draft National Plan for Women 2001-2005 which is due to be finalised next spring.
Ms Wallace, who has special responsibility for equality and disability, said the final plan would be "isolated" if it did not contain the views of Irish women.
"It is our plan. It is a plan for Irish women for 2001 to 2005 and it is up to us, the women of Ireland, to make a difference in that plan," she said.
While much progress has been made, "there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in Irish society," she added.
The draft plan stems from a UN world conference on women in Beijing in 1995, when 189 governments signed up to a 10-year action agenda to promote the advancement of women in 12 "critical areas of concern".
A review of Ireland's progress last year found that much had been achieved to promote the advancement of women but major challenges remained in some critical areas.
In the draft plan the Government makes commitments to tackle gender inequities in health, education and training, to reduce poverty and violence against women, and to promote their participation in power and decision-making at all levels.
The plan shows that women's participation in the labour market is much lower than men's and that they earn only 84.5 per cent of men's wages.
The draft will be used as a basis for consultations with individuals, non-governmental organisations, women's groups, the social partners, Government departments and statutory bodies. The Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform is offering grants for women's groups to help them formulate their views. A public forum will be held next February.
Ms Grβinne Healy from the National Women's Council of Ireland welcomed the publication of the Government's commitments to women's equality in one document. "We want to make sure the commitments all have targets and time-frames attached to them . It will give us a real tool for monitoring over the next number of years," she added.
Five women from various organisations addressed yesterday's event on their hopes for the final plan.
Ms Joan Carmichael, assistant general secretary of ICTU, said after 25 years of equal pay laws the very basic issue of a gender pay gap persisted. Women still earned on average 15 per cent less than men, and over a working lifetime an average man would earn £200,000 more than his female counterpart, she said.
The right to parental leave existed on paper only, as it was unpaid and people could not afford to take it.
Childcare provision was still at "ground zero" and additional measures were needed to help families find childcare and to make it affordable, she added.
Ms Kathleen O'Neill from Saol, a rehabilitation project for stable drug-users in inner-city Dublin, hoped the plan could address systematic inequalities in society.
Women involved in the Saol project were directly affected by poverty and inequality. Six were homeless and others would be "better off homeless" as they lived in premises condemned by Dublin Corporation.
Ms Lena Joyce from Pavee Point Travellers' Centre said Traveller women would like to see the plan tackle racism and sexism.