The Government's decision to divide the State into regions in order to attract higher levels of EU structural funding and to pursue a more balanced economic approach to development has important implications for rural women. Women represent one of the most important, and undervalued, resources in Ireland today. Indeed, as the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, remarked in his address to the Oireachtas yesterday, this State had the courage to elect its first woman president. And he pointed out how the politics of Northern Ireland would be better if there were more women in prominent positions.
In the Republic, the percentage of women in the labour force has been rising rapidly in recent years. And while that figure is well below the European average, women returning to work and those entering the workforce for the first time have provided the economy much needed labour flexibility and high-quality skills. But this is just one aspect of the contribution women should be encouraged to make.
The economic and social role of women in rural Ireland has changed greatly in recent decades. Young women raising families in the countryside now have more in common with their urban sisters in terms of values and aspirations than with their mothers' generation. But too often, patriarchal values still rule their lives and they are constrained from contributing fully to the development of their communities.
A paper by Anne Byrne and Mary Owens in the journal of the Institute of Public Administration argues that improving participation by women in the rural development process requires a coherent set of mandatory policy measures and actions. Policy makers at local and national level were urged to abandon the prejudice that ignored the role of women in development. The Government should introduce an overall guiding statement for rural policy, they said, which would endorse principles of equality and social inclusion and incorporate implementing measures in a strategic framework for local development. Affirmative action was seen as the key to this departure. And, to underpin mandatory regulations, equal status legislation would be required.
For twenty years and more, legislators have recognised the need for affirmative action in order to break down ingrained prejudice and discrimination against women in our society. If we are to develop a fully-functioning partnership, not only between the social partners but between the sexes, we need such legislation. A Government commitment to fully utilise the abilities of women in the development of their communities, would send an important signal in the context of regional development strategies.