Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As International Women’s Day approaches, I welcome that today we are dedicating some time to celebrating the work of women over the past year and also highlighting the struggles that women have faced during this pandemic.

Covid-19 has brought to light so many of the structural, financial and societal inequalities that still exist within our country. The fact is that gender equality has suffered in the face of the pandemic. We know that many women are the primary caregivers in many homes. Women have taken on the majority of the household work, childcare and home schooling, all the while balancing their own professional commitments.

It is not just in our homes. It is on the front line too where 76% of our healthcare workers are women. They have not just been juggling the pressures of Covid-19, they have been out there on our front line saving lives during this pandemic. We have gained a new level of appreciation for our healthcare workers in the past year. I know I speak for everyone when I say how thankful we are for the men and women who have literally kept our country going. They kept our health service going, our shops open, our public transport running and our emergency services going when everything else ground to a halt. The same can be said of our carers who played such a vital role for our most vulnerable at a time they needed it most.

With women taking on a larger proportion of the caring roles, both personally and professionally, gender equality has taken a massive step backwards in the last year. A recent study found that despite women making up 39% of global employment, they have accounted for more than 54% of job losses in the last year. By those calculations, women’s jobs are almost twice as vulnerable to this crisis as men’s jobs. Within Ireland young women are also being financially and professionally affected by the pandemic. The Central Statistics Office tells us that 60% of 15 to 24-year-old women are now unemployed due to the pandemic. I ask Members to think about that for a second. More than half of the young women in our country are unemployed. There is a whole cohort of women leaving school and college who are stepping into the world of work for the very first time, a cohort of young women who are completely unsure of their future and their place in the world. Now more than ever we need to start investing in the future of young women and safeguarding their place in the workforce. We should not need to be reminded of why gender equality in the workplace is so important, but the sad truth is that when push comes to shove, it is still women who bear the brunt of job losses and it is still women who suffer in times of economic uncertainty. In many ways, in 2021, it is still a man’s world.

We are of course making progress in many sectors and women are becoming better represented in lots of industries, but they do not often reach the top level. Ireland is currently ranked 15th in the EU for our representation of women on boards and globally only 17% of business board members are women. We are making progress but it is just not fast enough. I come from the corporate world and I have seen at first hand the value that women bring to management and executive roles. I know the benefits of having gender balance in the workplace. I have had the pleasure of working for four vice-presidents of PayPal, who are four strong, inspiring female leaders. I saw at first hand how diversity of thought around a senior leadership table delivers results. I saw at first hand how having females in senior leadership positions inspires other women to fulfil their career ambitions. I saw at first hand how women making it to the top of their game changes the status quo. Inspiring, enabling and equipping women to develop their career is something I want to play a key role in. That is why I have been a big supporter of the Network of Enterprising Women in South Dublin. That is why I was involved in the roll-out of diversity and inclusion training and women’s networks in my previous career.

That is why I have always worked to mark International Women’s Day in my constituency. This Monday, I will be hosting a virtual event along with Roberts Physio, Laura Jordan and The Holistic Lodge in Lucan to mark the day locally. That is also the reason I will work on ways to encourage and empower women in business.

It is often said that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it. I am privileged to have grown up in a world where because of the women elected to these Houses before me I saw it and I believed it. I am talking about women such as Mary Harney, Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese, Nora Owen, Olivia Mitchell and Olwyn Enright. They were just some of the women I saw on television while I was growing up. They were just some of the women who proved to me that women can achieve anything.

Women from all sides of the political divide helped break down gender barriers and smash the glass ceiling. I had the pleasure of getting to work with one of those trailblazers – Frances Fitzgerald. She worked at every level of politics. She sat in the council chamber, the Seanad Chamber and the Dáil Chamber. She sat in the Tánaiste's seat and today she sits in the European Parliament. Women like her set a precedent in politics.

As an MEP, Frances has published a very interesting report on the gender perspective in the Covid-19 crisis and the post-crisis period. She states:

... the COVID-19 recovery represents a significant opportunity to advance women as we seek to rebuild our economies and our societies in a different way. A true COVID-19 recovery can only be a success if we seek a greener, a fairer and a more [equal society].

That is why she has recommended in her report key recovery funds that are gender mainstreamed to ensure that women can fully benefit from them in terms of employment and also entrepreneurship. It is the reason she says we can harness this opportunity to ensure that women are better represented in sectors where they have been traditionally under-represented such as in digital, artificial intelligence, AI, ICT and science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM.

We must continue to set precedents in every single industry. It is not just an equality issue; it makes better business sense. In 2018, a study of 1,000 global companies found that those in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to have above-average profitability. The research speaks for itself; balanced boardrooms make for better business.

If the last year has taught us anything it is that we need to safeguard the future of women. Sometimes one needs to get one's foot in the door to get a seat at the table. That is something we all have to be reminded of from time to time.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day next week, I take this opportunity to commend the many brilliant and capable women with whom I work on a daily basis and I am proud to share this floor with. I would like to thank the many men who continue to be champions and supporters of the women in their lives. Their stories are a reminder of some of the trailblazing women who have come before us and laid the path for many of us working in politics but there is still so much work to be done. We need to shout louder and make gender equality in all areas of life a big-ticket issue. Covid-19 has already taken far too much from us. We must not let gender equality become another victim of this pandemic. We must do better. I want to be part of the movement that makes life for women better, that gives women better opportunities and empowers them to grasp them and that gives women the credit they truly deserve.

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