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8th March 2023
05:00pm GMT
My Nanny turns 89 this month and the Ireland she grew up in is completely different from the one I'm living in. There may be 60 years between us, but has that much really changed for the women of Ireland in that time?
We've made strides when it comes to women's rights. In 1973, the marriage bar, which prevented any married woman from working in the public sector, was abolished.
In 1977, the Employment Equality Act prohibited most gender discrimination in employment.
In 1992, the Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act, allowed the sale of contraceptives in Ireland without a prescription. In 2018, the Eight Amendment was finally repealed in a landslide referendum. In 2019, coercive control became illegal in Ireland. Most recently, in 2022, a Zero Tolerance plan on domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence was introduced. As incredible as this progress is, it shouldn't stop us from pushing for more because we still have so far to go. We can celebrate our achievements and the progress we've made on International Women's Day, but we can also use this day to fight for more.
Director of the National Women's Council, Orla O'Connor said it is time for the government to prioritise "real gender equality". The government needs to act now in order to make this country a safe and equal place for women.
“Care is one of the issues which we have worked on since our 1973 inception. As a society, we must start properly valuing care. That means having decent pay and working conditions for carers and a social welfare system that ensures they have an adequate standard of living. It means supporting women and men to combine unpaid care with paid employment through better, paid family leave and accessible, affordable, quality childcare. And it means meeting the support needs of disabled people of all ages, of older people, and of people with illnesses.”
We made strides when we repealed the 8th Amendment in 2018, but Ireland's abortion laws are still highly restrictive. According to the National Women's Council, 12 women a week are still travelling for abortion care. A worrying 1 in 5 women are experiencing mental health difficulties during and after pregnancy, but how can we seek support when it isn't there? Too many of us are familiar with the difficulties of trying to get a GP appointment in Ireland. Many of us have sat in a doctor's office and been told to 'go for a walk' after revealing our mental health struggles. Not only do we need better healthcare for women, but we also need healthcare professionals to take us seriously."Not only do we need better healthcare for women, but we also need healthcare professionals to take us seriously."
The women of Ireland deserve better. We need to use our voices to make this a country where we feel safe, where we're treated equally and one we're proud to call home. This isn't a fight just for women. Every person on this island should be using their voice to make this a safer country for women. We owe it to future generations and the women who came before us. We need to keep fighting for marginalised women, for Traveller women, for women who aren't ready to speak up, for women who cling to their keys walking home at night, for trans women, for refugees who have come to Ireland with hope. We owe it to the 239 women killed in Ireland since 1996. We owe it to Ashling Murphy. We owe it to Savita Halappanavar. We owe it to Veronica Guerin. We owe it to Anastasia Kriégel. We owe it to Bruna Fonseca. We owe it to every single person who identifies as a woman on this island.
