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Address by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese on the occasion of her attendance at breakfast

Address by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese on the occasion of her attendance at breakfast

As one of a small number of Heads of State in the world today who is a woman, I am conscious of the fact that my own country is regarded by many as having taken an unusual and innovative step in electing two women presidents.

However, a look back over Irish history would indicate that

women have always played an important role in the country's development and they continue to do so to this day. In Ireland, St. Bridget vies with St. Patrick as our national saint. The exploits of Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen of County Mayo are still celebrated. In more recent times we have had the example of Countess Markievicz, a proponent of Irish independence in the early part of this century and the first woman elected to the British parliament, although she chose to take her seat in the first Irish parliament in Dublin rather than in Westminster. Countess Markievicz became the first Minister for Labour in an Irish Government, a revolutionary step I think you will agree, for a woman in 1919.

Later still other Irish women made an impact. Mairéad Corrigan and Betty Williams were Nobel Peace Prize winners for their work in trying to put an end to negative sectarian thinking and to promote cross-community solidarity in Northern Ireland and of course generations of Irish women, missionaries, teachers and nurses have made a positive contribution throughout the world for almost two centuries, including here in Australia. In fact in another life I was due to lecture here in Sydney this very month a year ago on the work of the Mercy nuns who came to Australia 100 years ago. An election interrupted those plans and the speech was relayed from Dublin by satellite to the Mercy International Assembly of many prominent Australian women.

I have to say too that my own election and that of my predecessor as President of Ireland has helped to change the perception of Irish women internationally. But I am not complacent, I know there is still a long way to go before there is true equality between the sexes and we know that that issue of equality does not relate only to so called women's issues, but to the creation of a truly inclusive society in which no group is left out.

The Ireland of the 1990's is a very different country to that which existed in the 1960's and before. As with every other country, we have our problems. But we also have made great strides particularly in relation to the expectations and the aspirations of women compared with those of 30, 40 and 50 years ago. The pernicious web of laws, attitudes, perceptions and myths which held the genius, imagination, talent and ambition of women in check for many centuries has been painstakingly dismantled in the course of this century so that the outlook for women at the end of the 20th century is phenomenally different from the outlook for our mothers and grandmothers. There is a distance yet to go.

It is said that history is always written by the victors. It could also be said that history in the past has always been written by men or at the very least, from a male perspective. It truly has been “his story”. The teaching of history has tended to be confined to battles, to wars and heroic deeds largely carried out by men with women usually given a small walk-on part or very often not featuring at all. Social history is perhaps a more effective way of chronicling human developments over the ages.

It tells us of the contributions and the tribulations of women to a far greater extent. By looking at the lives of women, both at work and in the home, we gain a picture of the past not normally associated with the history books of our school days.

The fundamental changes which have taken place in my country particularly for Irish women were not brought about only by the politicians and by legislators but by the courageous and energetic action of women who decided to devote themselves to the welfare of their fellow citizens. Over many years they lobbied, often in loneliness and with little support even from other women, to redirect our consciousness of the subtlety of bias, awakening us to the insidiousness of sexism and the huge loss to the dynamic of a young country when so much of its natural talent base remains unused, unacknowledged.

The development of equal opportunities in Ireland has drawn extensively on the experiences of Australia. We are very much aware that Australia has long had progressive and forward thinking policies in relation to equality issues. In Ireland we have not been slow to consider what you have done here in Australia in drawing up our own plans for legislative change.

There are still many important issues which are being addressed. There is the question of increased women's representation on State Boards and on other decision-making bodies. There is the question of equal treatment on grounds of gender in the provision of goods and services. There is still the worrying issue of the disparity between men's and women's pay more than 20 years after the introduction of Equal Pay legislation.

There is the question of greater participation for women at the highest levels of State and private sector enterprises. There is the question of the introduction of working practices which are family friendly and which allow the necessary degree of flexibility for those who wish to combine work with family life. There is the question of provision of credible childcare to allow women greater scope for self-development, education and work.

All of these are areas of crucial importance to Irish women. The work for equality is a shared partnership between Government and non-governmental organisations. Independent women's organisations are recognised, listened to and encouraged by Government. They have a vital role to play in moving politicians, legislators and public forward on the path towards imbedding true equality in the wide fabric of Irish society. The opening up of our economy through membership of the European Union has brought us four square in the mainstream of many crucial debates and issues, equality among them.

As a small nation geographically on the periphery of Europe, we Irish have been enthusiastic Europeans from the beginning. We saw our membership of the EU as a chance to broaden our horizons. We recognised that the new order, which emerged on the continent after World War II, provided us with a chance to build bridges from our small island in the Atlantic to the European mainland. We saw the new Europe as an opportunity to expand our trade, to revitalise our agriculture industry, to deepen the pool of insight from which we draw when pondering complex social, legal and political issues.

We were aware that in EU membership there were considerable potential benefits. When we joined the EU in 1973, we were among the least well off regions in the Community. It was apparent that we would, initially at any rate, benefit from the policies aimed at correcting economic and social imbalances operated by the Community at that time. Today we are the jewel in Europe's crown - the success story at large. The financial help has been judiciously used to make us the most dynamic, vibrant, successful economy in Europe.

Today Ireland has one of the youngest and best-educated populations in Europe. More than half of school leavers go on to third level education. One of the most striking statistics is that the highest rates of participation in third level education are in two of the most rural and isolated counties. 20 years ago emigration was commonplace. Today there is a reverse trend as graduates come home bringing with them new skills. Of those with a third level education 30% have worked abroad. For the population as a whole around 10-15% have lived overseas. We blend easily into new cultures and communities, keeping our own culture alive while assimilating and contributing to new homeplaces. And of course the seismic changes have impacted greatly on women.

In the 25 years from 1971 to 1996 the number of women in employment grew by 212,000 compared with growth of just 23,000 in male employment over the same period. The growth of women's participation in the workforce from 1991 to 1996 almost equalled the growth of womens employment in the previous 20 years. These changes have particularly affected married women. In 1971 married women accounted for only 14% of the female workforce. By 1996 about half of the female workforce was married. The level of participation of Irish women at work is today well up to the European average.

In the area of social legislation great strides were also made. Equal pay legislation was introduced in 1974 on foot of a European Directive. Three years later the Employment Equality Act was passed. It was a major catalyst for change for women. We regarded these measures and many others like them as progressive and ultimately beneficial to Irish society. One of the strengths of the Treaty of Rome from the point of view of a small nation is that it gave the same fundamental rights of membership of the Community to the small as well as to the large nations. We had a contribution to make and we were bold in making that contribution. We felt genuinely privileged to be part of this great European experiment. Our size has never inhibited us from being major contributors to every debate and decision affecting Europe. Those who feared we would be swamped, our culture overwhelmed, have been proved wrong. Our economic renaissance is matched by an amazing cultural zest, an exhilarating renewal across every branch of the arts. Women feature in every sphere of artistic excellence – dance, theatre, sculpture, music, poetry, literature, film, painting, design. Whatever the discipline, the richness of women’s genius is infusing modern Irish culture at home and abroad. But of course the work of building a robust framework for the sustained development of women goes on.

This year an updated Employment Equality Act was passed which strengthens the current legislation in relation to gender equality and includes many other grounds under which it will be unlawful to discriminate. There are also plans for the introduction of equal status legislation which is intended to prohibit discrimination in non-employment areas on nine distinct grounds. The enactment of this legislation will give Ireland one of the most modern of equality and anti-discrimination codes in operation anywhere in the world.

One of the most important themes of the future is the reconciliation of family and working life. The historical structure of the labour market has changed radically in a very short period of time. The existence of equality law has been extremely effective in changing the attitudes of employers to women at work. Perhaps now more needs to be done now to develop the rights of women and men to take advantage of family friendly policies in the workplace. As we move into the twenty first century there is a greater emphasis than ever on our "quality of life". We need and we want to work but we also want to have time to devote to our families, to improving ourselves or perhaps to looking after elderly or dependent relatives. In the modern world we all know how difficult it is to achieve a satisfactory balance between the world of work and our responsibilities outside the workplace. Family friendly policies may be the key. They can bring many benefits to both employers and employees alike. They benefit community and national life immeasurably, for happy families raising happy children are the richest resource any nation can have.

Research shows that for women in the work place, too much stress from trying to balance home and family life tends to be the number one concern. I think we are aware that there is still a deep inequality in the share of family and work commitments between men and women. The disadvantage experienced by women in this regard, as well as having detrimental effects on women themselves, also has adverse consequences for the earnings capacity or the productivity of the businesses and enterprises in which they work. There is considerable evidence to show that employees who have flexibility and the support they require for family life are more committed to the employer and therefore there is a resultant improvement in productivity. Family friendly makes business sense. It is not an added, discretionary extra, a costly perk – it goes to the root of developing a harmonious, humanly good relationship between business and the community it serves.

For some time it has been fashionable for the International press to describe the present Irish economy as a "Celtic Tiger". To quote Harold Macmillan speaking of Britain at the end of the fifties, "we have never had it so good". The feel-good factor is unmistakable. Performance of the Irish economy in recent years has been exceptional. The growth of output has been several times the EU average. And in recent years our employment growth has outstripped the EU average. Unemployment at the same time has been falling. As we have achieved all of this unprecedented economic growth, stability has been maintained. Inflation and Government borrowing remain under control and the debt burden continues to fall steadily. There is a strong tide of self-confidence. Ireland is a can-do country. The impoverished young nation recovering from the wounds of imperialism is now a nation in its stride.

Ireland's struggle for equality of opportunity for all is far from over. Until we have a society based on equality of representation and esteem it will not be over. Until we have a country where the limits and barriers to the full development of every Irish citizen are removed forever and until we have an Ireland where everyone participates fully on an equal basis in this society, in all of its diversity, then our job will not be completed. We will until then be flying on one wing. We have accomplished much in the last two decades and it is no accident that these are the very decades when equality hit the agenda forcibly. What excellence awaits us when all our talents, freed from false inhibitions, emerge organically and are part of the service of our country and our world?

Crucial questions need to be addressed to ensure we are indeed getting all that talent out. We have more women coming to the top of their chosen professions, in law, in medicine and in business.

There is in Ireland as there is in Australia a general recognition that gender differences should not make any difference in the choice of a profession or in progress within a profession. However, in both our countries women are still seriously under-represented in many parts of the workforce. Are there institutional reasons why women make up such a small percentage of our national parliaments? Is there an explanation as to why the Chief Executives of our major corporations are predominantly male, that our foremost academics are predominantly male, that the majority of those prominent in public life and in the media are male? These factors may in the enlightened nineties have little to do with overt discrimination but they may have something to do with the way the world is organised. We must look at these issues with new thinking and in an imaginative way if we are not to lose momentum and drift into a state of inert acceptance that we have gone this far but will go no further.

The world is becoming a very small place. What you achieve here in Australia can be an inspiration to us 11,000 miles away in Ireland and the reverse is also true. Our two countries have long been connected by the unbreakable bond of history. As we enter the next century, let us all, Australian and Irish, ensure that our ties remain as close in the future as they have been in the past, that we share our questions and our answers on those complex, vexed questions and that we build an Ireland and an Australia where the gifts and talents, the experiences and God given equality of each human person is celebrated and vindicated.