Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Leader of the House a happy International Women's Day. I thank Sinead Guckian for such a wonderful work of art. It is absolutely beautiful.

Today, we celebrate hard-won achievements by both men and women for equality and gender diversity. However, unless women are sitting at the table, then we do not have equality and we are not making the decisions. Angela Merkel spoke about the EU gender equality report and the impact of Covid-19 on equality. All of the lower income jobs lost in the hospitality, travel and retail sectors were women's jobs. The majority of those working on the front line are women. Over three quarters of our healthcare and social care workers are women. There are Covid-19 task forces in 87 countries and, guess what, 85% are made up of males. Only one third of EU health ministers are women. According to Central Statistics Office, CSO, data, 12% of leaders across all of our businesses are women. Guess how many are the chairs of boards. A total of 7.4% are chairs of boards in Ireland. We need to see women in leadership roles. Look at this Chamber: 40% female. It shows the hunger for our voices to be heard. In 2019, 24% of councillors were women, and I was one of those. I am delighted to see the announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, of more than €126,159 being given to support Women for Election.

I say "thank you" to the women who have forged a path, to President Mary Robinson, who broke the mould and gave us hope, and to President Mary McAleese. I pay tribute to my own mother, Teresa Dolan née Caulfield, who showed me that I could put my hand to anything, who gave me my strength of character and is my voice of reason. I pay tribute to both my grandmothers, Mary Ellen - Ma Dolan - and Margaret Caulfield - strong women, and my father and brothers, all the women and men who supported me on this journey in public life. I also pay tribute to the women from my area, such as Joan Burke. There is a book coming out today, Proud to Serve, which refers to Joan Burke, the first female TD from Roscommon, who topped the polls in 1965 and opposed the marriage ban.In 1957 Ms Brigid Hogan Higgins from Kilrickle in Galway was the first female Deputy in more than 20 years. There were only four female Deputies at the time. I wish Ms Hogan Higgins, who turns 88 years young this week, a happy birthday. The stories of more than 28 women are in that book and it is wonderful to pay tribute to those women who represented us here. We need diversity and gender balance in all walks of life to make our world richer with such innovation and creativity. The call for women's day is "choose to challenge". Now is the chance for Seanadóirí, both men and women, to do it. Let us do it every single day.