Oireachtas committee calls for referendum on Constitution's 'outdated gender stereotypes'

(Left to right) Members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality - Senator Mary Alice Higgins, Deputy Sorcha Clarke, Senator Fintan Warfield, Committee Chair Deputy Ivana Bacik, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Deputy Reada Cronin, Senator Pauline O'Reilly. The committee recommends that a referendum should be held in 2023 to remove the "Woman in the Home" clause from the Constitution. Picture: Maxwells

A referendum to replace outdated gender stereotypes in the Irish constitution and broaden the understanding of ‘family’ beyond those bound by marriage has been called for by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality.

A new report, launched by the Committee on Wednesday, recommends that a referendum should be held in 2023 on Articles 40.1 and 41 of the Constitution.

It states:

• Article 40.1 of the Constitution should be amended to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination.
• Article 41 of the Constitution should be amended so that it would protect family life, with the protection afforded to the family not limited to the marital family.
• And Article 41.2 of the Constitution should be deleted and replaced with language that is not gender specific and obliges the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community, the report said.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality had already recommended such constitutional changes.

The Oireachtas Committee report now recommends that a referendum should be held to give effect to these Citizens’ Assembly recommendations on constitutional change.

The new report also calls for the Government to do the necessary preparatory work and make a decision upon the wording for a constitutional referendum to be put to the people in 2023 to amend Article 40.1 and Article 41. Various options for appropriate wordings are suggested within the report.

Launching the report, Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Ivana Bacik said: “At the outset, it was agreed by the Committee to prioritise consideration of recommendations 1 to 3 on the Constitution, which relate to Articles 40.1 and 41 of the Constitution.

It has long been agreed that the way in which women and mothers are referred to in Article 41 is based on outdated gender stereotypes and should have no place in a constitutional text. In addition, the definition of family in the same Article has long been criticised for being insufficiently inclusive of diverse family forms in contemporary Ireland.

"The committee therefore recommends that a constitutional referendum be held in 2023 to give effect to the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations on constitutional change."

“Several alternative options for wording are set out in the report. The committee has sought the response of the Government on the proposals put forward, and now seeks the views of interested stakeholders, citizens, and members of the public on these options. 

"We will be publishing a final report at the conclusion of our term as a committee and will return then to the question of constitutional change. Through this process and our ongoing work, we look forward to contributing to the strengthening of gender equality norms and policies generally.” 

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Deputy Bacik thanked the members of the Citizens’ Assembly for their report: “Their hard work and engagement in this deliberative democracy process has produced a comprehensive set of recommendations, and it is the aim and intention of this committee to focus on their implementation.”

The committee’s work on the full set of recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly is ongoing and hearings will continue through Autumn 2022 to enable consideration of all 45 recommendations under a number of different headings.

The committee is due to publish its final report on all recommendations in December 2022.