The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has said that its member co-ops have committed to taking measures that drive up the representation and influence of women in their organisations.

The society will support its member co-ops to encourage more female members into the lower tiers of leadership, with rule changes and female-only position options to achieve this goal.

Co-ops will actively encourage male shareholders to add the names of their partners to co-op documentation as joint shareholders, where relevant.

A working group is to be appointed on the issue of female representation in each member co-op, with the topic to be discussed at the next AGM of each.

Member co-ops are to also set a target for the proportion of their board made up by women.

Female candidates putting themselves forward for elections can rely on the support of ICOS, the society said in its new charter for the participation of women in co-operatives.

Taking diversity seriously

Launching the nine-point charter, ICOS president James O’Donnell said that the co-op group has a responsibility to push for change.

He stated that under-representation of women in co-ops is not an Irish phenomenon, but that the plan ICOS drew up can steer the sector towards better diversity.

“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, particularly gender diversity, in co-op structures,” O'Donnell said.

“This is not just an Irish problem. For whatever reason, the under-representation of women on co-op boards is an issue across Europe.

“We want to show leadership in changing this damning statistic by supporting our members in using all methods possible to encourage, support and sustain female participation and input and decision making at board level.”

Charter

The objectives set out in the charter are manageable once co-ops roll in behind ICOS in putting them into action, O’Donnell continued.

“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 said.

“We are very conscious that society, and our customers, expect us to reflect all our shared and progressive values.

“In 2023, there is no place for inequality in any sector of society and this includes agriculture and the progressive co-operative movement,” the ICOS president concluded.