EQUALITY between the sexes should be written into the new EU treaty, according to Ms Bernie Malone MEP.
She was speaking in Dublin at a weekend conference to celebrate International Women's Day at which equality issues and violence against women were discussed.
"Interestingly, only one group wanted to discuss violence against women, the rest were interested in economic power," Ms Malone said.
Her campaign to be elected to Europe cost £46,000, she said. "When I ran as a councillor in 1979 I had to fund my own campaign. It was open to me to run because I was employed in a way that it is not open to people who are unemployed or women who have no independent income."
The chairwoman of the equality committee of Dublin Corporation Cllr Mary Freehill, said she would fight the "glass ceiling" that exists in the corporation.
More than 80 per cent of women in the corporation earn less than £20,000, she said, compared with 58 per cent of men. And 14 times more men than women earn over £30,000.
"It's not men but outdated social structures and rules that stand in the way of women crying to play a full part in society.
European Commission administrator Ms Orlagh O'Farrell told the conference that the Partnership 2000 agreement gave new responsibilities for child care to the Department of Equality and Law Reform. "This is an area where an action based approach rather than endless reports is required."
Ms Malone said the row over VAT on creches highlighted women's issues.
She said a " European Charter on Equality between Women and Men" should be central to the new EU treaty to be agreed in Amsterdam in June. "This charter should express the principles already incorporated into EU law, making them clearer", she said.
Such a charter should also lay down strategies and action plans for working and political life.
Twenty eight per cent of MEPs are women, she said, and the Socialist Group has been led by a woman since 1994.
