Fine Gael TD for Cork East and Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton launched the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017- 2020: Creating a Better Society for all, with the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald at Dublin Castle yesterday.
The key theme of the strategy is to promote equality for women and girls across all areas of life; be it in the workplace, education, the family, on public and corporate boards and in sport and the arts. A Strategic Committee informed the strategy together with a public consultation process conducted between November 2016 and January 2017, which invited contributions in writing and in person at a series of public meetings held in Cork, Athlone, Dublin and Sligo.
The strategy sets out 139 actions across six high level-objectives and is envisaged to be a living document so that further actions can be added, when necessary, over its lifetime.
Minister Stanton noted: “This strategy includes a number of practical actions to support families, to continue our increased investment in childcare, to support urban and rural female entrepreneurs, to encourage more women into leadership positions on public and corporate boards and to put women’s interests at the heart of decision-making.
“I am calling on men and boys to play their part in advancing the equality of women and girls. We need to change those attitudes and practices that prevent women and girls from participating fully in education, employment and at all levels in public life. As Chair of the Strategic Committee, my aim will be to ensure that the strategy results in real and concrete change for the better.
“We know that achieving full equality for women and girls will benefit our society and our economy. We need businesses, communities and civil society to get on board to realise that the benefits of equality are in all of our best interests.”
The strategy is available online at: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/National_Strategy_for_Women_and_Girls_2017-2020
