Women want Government to tackle abortion, violence, and childcare
According to a survey by the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) for Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Little Christmas, issues such as women workers rights, redress for victims of institutional abuse and more women in senior decision-making positions are also to the forefront of women’s minds in 2015.
Ensuring that the voices of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable women are being heard and the need for more investment for training and education for young women also featured prominently in the study.
Orla O’Connor, director of the NWCI, said the fact that violence against women, abortion, and affordable childcare are the three most prominent issues for women in 2015 was “no big shock”.
“Male violence is still an inescapable backdrop in the lives of one in five women in Ireland.
“Equally, the issue of safe and legal abortion is one which has affected hundreds of thousands of women since the Eighth Amendment was inserted into the Constitution in 1983 and was rarely out of the headlines last year, while the lack of affordable, accessible childcare is a massive barrier to women’s equal participation in the workforce.”
She said the Government must take three clear steps to tackle violence against women and said there could be no real equality in Ireland when one gender faced violence on such a large scale.
“Ireland must sign, ratify, and implement the Istanbul Convention as a matter of urgency.
“The new domestic violence legislation and the new strategy on violence against women, which the Government will introduce in 2015, must establish domestic violence as a crime in its own right with the potential of serious sentences.
“The Government must also act on the recommendations in the Garda Inspectorate report which highlighted the failings by An Garda Síochána to pursue domestic violence as a serious crime.”
On the issue of reproductive rights, she said it was no longer acceptable for the Government “to make all the right sounds” on the issue but fail to do anything about it.
“It is no longer acceptable for the Government to make all the right sounds in the face of issues such as fatal foetal abnormalities, or in situations where women are used as an incubator, which doctors and lawyers are forced to consult their copies of Bunreacht na hÉireann, but fail to do anything about.
“We must have a referendum to Repeal the Eighth Amendment in 2015.
The NWCI said that women continued to be paid less than men for equal work and were not close to being equally represented in Irish society.
“Nollaig na mBan is a day where traditionally men took over the housekeeping duties, something which in 2015 still predominantly falls to women,” said Ms O’Connor.
“Women are paid less for the work we do, we continue to provide the majority of the care work and as of yet, women are not be close to being equally represented in a representative democracy.”
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