The latest national plan to advance the rights of women and girls has been launched in Dublin.
It outlines the Government’s strategy over the next five years to promote gender equality through specific actions such as improving access to education, leadership and economic opportunities.
The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley who launched the new strategy said while the position of women has advanced hugely in recent times, much remains to be done to achieve equality between women and men.
The plan follows public consultation on what was deemed important. Along with research, the views of the public were gathered to ensure a broad range of opinions and experiences were included, to highlight the key issues and figure out how best to deal with the challenges facing women and girls today.
The new strategy aims to build on the previous strategies in areas such as leadership, social and economic issues, visibility and active participation, healthcare and achieving gender equality.
Watch: ‘It’s something concrete’ – Reaction to the new National Strategy for Women and Girls
Gender pay gap portal
Minister Foley also announced the launch of the Government’s Gender Pay Gap Portal which will allow employers with over 50 employees to publicly report their gender pay gap on a central website.
Those at the launch included Joanne O’Riordan who is a disability rights activist and Carlien Scheele Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality.
Sisters Ciara, Saoirse and Laoise Murphy who were winners of the 2025 Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition were also in attendance.
Women at the event spoke about the importance of them coming together to highlight the challenges, to ensure the strategy is inclusive and that they have the same opportunities as men in society.