Fidelma Healy Eames: Unpaid care work, gender pay gaps and a lack of female leaders – the barriers to equality for Irish women
By Fidelma Healy Eames
Copyright independent
I was recently elected as the Irish representative to the UN standing committee for business and professional women (BPW International). One of my first duties was to attend a UN forum on sustainable development to assess global progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), a 2030 global map for people and the planet.
With more equal societies shown to be good for everyone, including men and boys, gender equality (SDG 5) is seen as a catalyser to achieving the goals. Ireland’s current gender parity score ranks ninth globally. It all sounds good but, it falls considerably short of full equality. Before I went, I asked Irish women, across business and various professions, what would make their lives more successful.
