TO BE OR NOT TO BE The Weaknesses of the Report on

This is partly as a result of a report recently published by the Commission on the Status of Women..A detailed and comprehensive study, it offers many ‘new’ ideas and suggestions as to how women may be given equal citizenship with men. Among these are: 1. _. Equal pay for all females employed throughout the work-force. 2: Greater income-tax relief for married working women. 3. Special retraining programmes for women of middle-age returning-to work or entering the work-force for the first time.

employment. 6. _ Maternity leave to be oblisatoly, ofa sufficient period. Recommended period is approximately eight weeks. 7. The establishment of Day-Care Centres and nurseries for the benefit of all veRDS mothers. 8. The establishment of family planning centres throughout the country.

These are only a few of the 49 proposals in the report, but are obviously the most important and basis. Most important, they cut across the whole position of women at present in Irish society.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

For any state to concede to all of these propo.Sals and undertake to implement them would seriously disrupt its whole economy. Already the coalition has made its feelings on the report quite clear. Mr. Richie Ryan’s ‘substantial but not contplete’ agreement is a sure indication of what we can expect.

Certain demands will of necessity be met; for instance, greater tax allowances for married women can only benefit the employers. Already we have seen the increasing influx of women into the work-force, especially manufacturing industry. With the expected expansion of light consumer industry, within the EEC, a massive leap in the number of women entering the work-force is on the cards.

The increasing radicalisation of women also . means that certain efforts will have to be made other words, the creation of all-female jobs has occurred. In the manufacturing industry in Ireland, where 31% of all employed are women, certain work routines could become a female speciality. This could also happen in the ‘professional’ category of the Industrial Group, where women constitute 75% of all those employed. Even in secretarial work, where one-quarter of working women at work are to be found, certain work-duties could become purely ‘female jobs’.

There is absolutely nothing to prevent such ‘female jobs’ from remaining the poorest paid. The worst example of this type of situation is the clothing trade. In this group, women are 82.6% of the actual number employed, but the average hourly rate of pay for a female is 33.6p compared to that of 60p per hour fora male. Employers in the textile industry are supply of cheap labour. ROOT CAUSES increasingly hiring all female staff, especially in the 14—21 age group. These are.an excellent In a situation where men and women are employed for the same jobs, hairdressing for example, equal pay may be won. But ina society riddled with such concepts as ‘a woman’s-place is in the home’ what real equality can there be? Some women may enjoy equal pay for a few years but then most likely they will return to the kitchen sink. Even today only approximately one-fifth of all women work outside the home. Even if women return to a job, new pay-scales will be there to greet them, as in the case of married women in Aer Lingus, Telefis Eireann or the Civil Service. The time of absence may. be only a few months but there is nothing to prevent such injustice.

The conditions that give rise to the situations ICTU! outlined above have deep roots. One has only to look at the gross imbalances in the educational system to see that women have not really got an ‘equal chance.’

With all these ‘inequalities’ balanced against it, the Report has very little chance of being implemented comprehensively. But such a fact must not prevent radical women from demanding that it should. Pressure must be placed on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; to make sure that the proposals are implemented without any manoeuvring by the employers and the bourgeois state. Female trade unionists should begin to discuss how to apply such pressure, and they must be on their guard against any side-stepping.

FOR THE FULL AND IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 49 PROPOSALS!

NO:-MORE LIP SERVICE FROM THE ~ takes a very long-time for it to be implemented, for

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4. _ Better social-welfare allowances for deserted wives, to include unmarried mothers, 5. The creation of creches, in‘all a of