International Women’s Day was celebrated in Dublin yesterday with events ranging from coffee mornings to readings of stories of women torture victims. On the day which has its roots in a 1907 protest by women trade unionists in America, women were reminded that a pay gap still existed in Ireland, more than 20 years after equal pay legislation was enacted. Amnesty International published a report on torture of women and girls, with prominent Irish figures including Dolores O’Riordan of the Cran berries reading stories of women torture victims from Guinea, Iraq, Kurdistan, Mexico and the Philippines.

Ms Doreen Coleman, president of Network Ireland, an all-Ireland organisation for women in business, and Ms Mary Doyle, an economist from ICC Bank, hosted a coffee morning in the Merrion Hotel.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland also had a coffee morning to honour women volunteers, past and present. Ms Gráinne Healy asked why women did not have half the power to make decisions about the issues affecting their lives.

She said women in the EU still earned on average 83 per cent of male earnings, still performed more than 80 per cent of household tasks and accounted for only 18 per cent of decision-makers in EU institutions. Among those gathered for the event were Ms Mary Banotti MEP and Ms Margaret Erraught, a member of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association since 1956 and a former chairwoman of the Council for the Status of Women. Ms Hilda Tweedy, the council’s first chairwoman, recalled returning from an international congress in 1949 "all starry eyed about equal pay for work of equal value". She said it was extraordinary there remained "grey areas" of equal pay. "It’s like women’s work in the home. It’s never done. You can’t relax and say women have got things, even though they may have got it in law."

In Galway yesterday tributes to the late "Queen of Connemara", Ms Bina McLoughlin, were paid on a day marked with music, poetry and a parade, writes Lorna Siggins. Some 50 women attended the gathering hosted by the Women in Media and Entertainment group in the Town Hall theatre, and on the city’s streets. In the theatre, Ms Margaretta D’Arcy delivered a eulogy to Ms McLoughlin, who died several weeks ago at the age of 72 in Merlin Park Hospital, Galway.

Ms McLoughlin was a dramatist, actress and a farmer, who championed the rights of her sex. She made news after her death when she bequeathed her property at Leenane to the Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr Éamon Ó Cuív and his family. He has arranged for its return to her relatives.

Editorial

International Women’s Day was celebrated in fairly low-key style in this country yesterday as befits a State that has failed to live up to its promises, but also because of the foot-and-mouth. Ten years ago, the membership target for the appointment of women to State boards but, as of last summer, the percentage of positions held by women averaged 27 per cent. And the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy added insult to injury this week when he ignored gender balance provisions and appointed only one woman out of seven to the National Pension Reserve Fund Commission.

Gender balance on State boards would not rate as a top priority with many women who regard other forms of discrimination - particularly in relation to pay and benefits as more important. But, as an indicator of official concern and of an intent to break old moulds at the highest levels, it is

significant. The worst offenders, when it came to appointing women to State boards, were the Departments of Defence and Finance, followed by the Department of Justice, which has

responsibility for equality matters. The best performer – and the only one to exceed the 40 per cent quota - was the Department of Foreign Affairs. Because of this poor record, the Equality Authority has suggested the Government should establish a database of qualified, suitable women, along with deadlines for when quota targets would be met.

The origins of International Women’s Day goes back to a protest march by women against the pay and conditions obtaining in sweat shops in New York at the turn of the century. Since then, considerable advances have been made in the developed world. The latest official figures in this

State show that the gap between wage levels for men and women narrowed from 20 per cent to 15 per cent during the past ten years. However, women in the manufacturing sector still receive only three-quarters of male earnings. And a large proportion of women tend to be employed in lowskilled, low-paid jobs.

Advances are being made, even if they are uneven. Recent legislation introduced by the Government outlawed discrimination against women in the workplace and in society

generally. In his last Budget, Mr McCreevy extended paid maternity leave to 18 weeks, with a further extension of non-paid leave to eight weeks. And, last December, an Equality Officer ruled that schoolgirls and women in the workplace can no longer be compelled to wear skirts. But while incremental change is taking place in this State, the treatment of women in the wider world is appalling. An estimated four million women and girls are bought and sold into marriage, prostitution or slavery each year, according to the United Nations. About 5,000 women are murdered by members of their own families each year in so-called "honour" killings, inflicted as "retribution" for having been raped, for marrying outside the tribe or for failing to obey male authority.