Gender equality must be central to how all our public organisations operate. Gender
equality metrics must be transparent. Gender equality demands nothing less. Gender
equality benefits everyone-men, women, students and society.
As the first minister in Ireland in charge of Higher Education, I wanted to implement
change that outlived my tenure and that was a legacy for our young daughters,
our granddaughters and for all the female students in the future who will aspire to a
higher education in fair and equitable institutions.
Gender inequality exists in our third-level institutions not because of a lack of
talent or ambition, but because of systemic barriers and a culture that means talent
alone is not always enough to guarantee success. Gender inequality is discrimination,
pure and simple, and I was committed to ensuring that this wrongful practice of
discriminating against the appointment of senior female academics stopped within
our publicly funded Higher Education Institutions.
I acknowledge the impressive body of work accomplished by Máire Geoghegan-
Quinn and her team in the National Review of Gender Equality in Higher Education
(2016). Although that report included sixty-six recommendations for action, there
was unfortunately no real driver for change within the institutions. I used that report
as a springboard to devise a clear and achievable road map and action plan on how
we would provide transformative change within our Third Level Institutions. In
November 2017, I established a Gender Equality Taskforce which gave a much
greater emphasis to the work of achieving gender equality in our higher education
institutions. I also want to acknowledge the work done by Department of Education
and Skills officials and the Attorney General that allowed me to vehemently argue
the case with my government colleagues and get cabinet approval.
