ONLY LABOUR WILL TACKLE THE GENDER PAY GAP – BURTON

Tánaiste Joan Burton today outlined Labour’s plans to stand up for women in the workplace, at home and in the community.

Launching Labour’s plan for equality today, Joan Burton said, if re-elected to Government, Labour will tackle gender pay issues by ensuring large companies and public sector employers make public the details their own internal pay gaps in order to stimulate stronger action towards pay equality.

The provisions in the ‘Standing Up For Equality’ plan include:

• Repeal the 8th amendment to the Constitution and proposal legislate for the rights of women in pregnancy.

• Commission a National Plan for Women’s Equality, take action to tackle the gender pay gap and further increase female participation in governance and public life. Labour will also amend the constitutional reference to the place of women in the home.

• Provide greater school choice. We will deliver 100 new multi-denominational schools and make sure that local children can access local schools.

• Enact Ireland’s first national LGBT strategy. This will build on the successes of Marriage Equality and Gender Recognition Act to tackle the cultural issues that disadvantage LGBT people.

• Promote independent living for people with disabilities. We will provide service that empower people with disabilities and will continue to implement our Comprehensive Employment Strategy. We will also ratify the UN convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities within the first year of a new Government.

• Introduce a one-off earned regularisation scheme for undocumented migrants. This will set out a clear pathway to citizenship for migrants resident in Ireland.

• Put tackling child poverty at the heart of Government policy. Labour is committed to substantially increasing funding for school meals programmes, establishing a new End Child Poverty Commission and continuing to increase Child Benefit payments.

Tanaiste Joan Burton said: “We in the Labour Party have a keen belief in equality. For us it is a core political principle.

“And I would say to all progressive voters – both women and men, to everyone who believes in the importance of equality – that Labour is the only party which shares your belief and is willing and able to make it a reality.”

Liz McManus added: “Women need the Labour Party in government to lead on issues that make a real and significant impact on our lives.

“Equality is one of the main reasons that I got involved in politics fifty years ago. Now there is a whole new generation of women putting themselves forward for election. Gender balance has been introduced in this Election. It is an important step forward and it only happened because Labour is in Government.”

ENDS

Labour’s ‘Standing Up For Equality’ plan – http://labr.ie/standingupforequality