Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending to celebrate International Women’s Day. We are always delighted to welcome him to the Seanad, 40% of whose Members are women. We need to see the level of representation move upwards in the Dáil. As the Minister mentioned, we are supporting women in participating in public life, but there are many reasons women may not wish to get involved. Sometimes, it is due to the difficult and challenging behaviours we see across various media that can be targeted towards women. It is great that we see representation in the Seanad. This is a great debating space and very constructive.

I wish to highlight some matters. I was across the road at an Engineers Ireland talk on women in STEM subjects and how there was not an equal showing of young boys and girls, men and women across science, technology, engineering and maths. This has been an issue for up to 20 years. When we speak with multinationals, Engineers Ireland and the Department of Education, issues are highlighted. Two researchers in the department of maths at UCD presented at the Engineers Ireland meeting. Some of their findings pointed towards how the maths syllabus did not reflect a girl’s experience of encouraging women and young girls to take up maths at post-primary level. This is an issue. We are at full employment, which is wonderful, but there is considerable demand for people with backgrounds in STEM and half of our population – young women and girls – do not feel confident taking up those subjects or believe they will be successful in doing so. Why is that? It is pretty much down to culture. How we change that culture is up to us in government.

A number of events are happening across the country, particularly in Roscommon where Network Ireland is focusing on women entrepreneurs. It is great to see women deciding to start up their own businesses and enter the workforce. Network Ireland is holding a talk in Strokestown at 10 a.m. on Friday. In Hannon’s Hotel in Roscommon town, Roscommon Women’s Network will hold an event about inclusion and women returning to the workforce, training and getting involved in the local community. It is crucial that we see inclusion and diversity in towns across our country, particularly in counties where there traditionally may not have been as much diversity as we saw in our city centres.

The Minister spoke about health services, particularly as regards women’s health. There was an information session on endometriosis in the audiovisual room today. One in ten women is impacted by endometriosis. It is crucial that we see investment in women’s health.

I will highlight the need to vote Yes-Yes in this Friday’s referendums. Care is a crucial matter. Many women are caring at home without having the supports in place – home help or respite services – that would allow them to become more actively involved in their local communities. This is all about what we are doing as a Government to increase access to respite services, carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit. I like that, through the referendum, there will be an obligation on the State to provide care. That is exciting and will show what sort of investment we will deliver.