The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has launched a gender equality charter aimed at promoting the participation of women in Irish co-ops and on their boards on this year’s International Women’s Day.
The organisation’s president has acknowledged “a chronic inequality” on the boards of co-ops across the country, and stated that the charter will mark the “moment that this begins to change for the better”.
ICOS launched the nine-point document today (Wednesday, March 8). It aims to overhaul gender imbalance, which ICOS stated “is well documented across agriculture”.
“This is most acute in relation to the representation of women on the boards of co-operatives.
“The ICOS Gender Equality Charter is clear in its goal to substantially alter this abject imbalance,” the organisation said in a statement.
Member co-operatives will be committed to the charter which includes a plan to implement several steps that should be taken to meet targets, before further measures are rolled out, ultimately leading to “a radical transition to gender equality”.
“The Irish co-operative sector, including ICOS, has membership and governance structures which demonstratably have poor involvement of women, younger people and minorities.
“This is a function of the more traditionally orientated membership of co-operatives, which being, for the most part, farmers, is mostly male and somewhat older than the general population,” stated ICOS.
Launching the charter, president James O’Donnell said the problem is evident across Europe, but ICOS wants Ireland to lead change by supporting its members “to encourage, support and sustain female participation and input”.
“ICOS has a responsibility to show leadership to its sector and to society in general, and takes very seriously its responsibility to encourage and promote diversity, and particularly gender diversity, in co-op structures.
“On International Women’s Day, we’re committed to promoting, facilitating and welcoming women into our co-ops, their representative structures and their boards.
“Our charter is crystal clear in this objective and we are confident that with the full support of our members, we can achieve this,” he added.
Gender Equality Charter contents
The Gender Equity Charter states that ICOS will “endeavour to identify, support and promote” female candidates for election to leadership roles within co-ops, before going on to state that ICOS will also conduct research into issues that may be affect female involvement.
It also states that member co-ops should set themselves a target for female representation on their board, which will reflect the current level of female membership in the society.
Furthermore, the charter outlines that low female membership numbers are the “root” of the issues at board level, and states that “ICOS co-ops will actively encourage male shareholders to add the names of their partners where appropriate”.
It’s hoped that this will encourage women with business expertise to be available for election to representative roles.
Member co-ops should also be enabled to amend their rules and policies in such a way that will provide opportunities for women at lower representative tiers, and co-ops will commit to having the item of female representation on their agenda at major meetings.
According to the charter, an equal opportunities policy which will be developed and enforced within ICOS member co-ops will include “investment and training in inclusivity, gender equality and diversity awareness”.