Constitution is sexist, exclusive, and reductionist
IN 1936, while formulating a new constitution, Éamon de Valera established a civil service committee to assist him. They were all men. He also took extensive advice from the president of the Supreme Court, and the High Court. Both were men. Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid also heavily influenced the final text. There were only three women TDs at the time, none of them said a word in the Dáil debates on the draft.
Dev shrugged off petitions from numerous women’s associations. They requested that women be allowed to serve on juries and be given decision-making roles in state bodies. Women also argued for the maintenance of Article 3 of the 1922 Constitution, which guaranteed “discrimination without distinction of sex”. Instead, Dev cast his long shadow over the women of Ireland for generations to come. He designed a Constitution that was sexist, exclusive, and reductionist. It gave legal and moral force to his dreams of a Catholic Ireland where women stayed at home and served their men.
