Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have narrowly rejected moves to set up a working group addressing under-representation of women at Stormont.
Only 18 out of 108 Assembly members are women. Sinn Féin MLA Jennifer McCann said the figure was 'a disgrace'.
After clashes between parties over their records on bringing more women to the fore, MLAs voted by 44 votes to 43 to recognise existing commitments in the Office of First and Deputy First Minister encouraging gender equality and preserving the merit principle for recruitment and selection.
A Sinn Féin motion to establish an all-party working group on the issue was defeated, and a DUP amendment accepted.
It was the Assembly's first working meeting since the re-establishment of devolved government.
The SDLP had put forward two motions; one called for better cross-border rail links, the other expressed concern about the plight of undocumented Irish immigrants in the US.
With the power-sharing Executive still finding its feet, the new ministers will not have to face questions on the floor of the Assembly until next month.
