Kenny: Slow progress getting more women on boards

Progress on increasing the representation of women on state boards “has been slow” the Taoiseach has admitted.

Enda Kenny said there are “significant deviations” between the government departments. He said a “pattern has emerged over the years whereby significant numbers of women are present on boards with a caring focus but fewer are on boards with an economic or business focus.”

A promise for a 40% gender quota on all state boards was made in 1991, again in 2005, and by the Coalition in its Programme for Government.

But the Taoiseach told the Dáil yesterday that women make up just 34% of places on state boards.

He said the Government has, since 2011, agreed to advertise state board vacancies on the website of the relevant departments, and the process is “being opened up for the first time ever” — even though ministers are not confined to selecting candidates through this process.

“Public advertisements inviting these applications state that due regard will be given to government policy on gender balance on state boards,” he said.

The Taoiseach said there are many examples of “exceptional and competent people, including women in particular, who were appointed following public advertisements for important economic bodies”.

The only board under the direct responsibility of the Taoiseach’s department is the National Economic and Social Council, which has 14 board members — four of which are women.

“While one might like to have a balance as close as possible to 50-50, members of this board are nominated within academia or individual groupings. I do not have that control over them,” he said.