Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is worth reminding ourselves that International Women's Day, 8 March, grew out of the labour movement, the workers' movement, when thousands of women in New York in the early part of the 20th century - 1908, in fact - marched through the city demanding a shorter working week, better pay and the right to vote. The tradition continued right up until the Russian Revolution, when in the same period the women of Russia took strike action for bread and peace in the middle of the First World War. That strike forced the abdication of the Tsar. There have been pretty powerful memories attached to International Women's Day then, and one of the songs that goes with it, "Bread and Roses", really strikes me as arguing not just for fair wages and conditions but also for decent and dignified conditions in our lives and the right to be treated in a dignified way as human beings.

What also strikes me, however, is that the Dáil every year finds one day on which we consider it important to discuss gender inequality and for the other 364 days it does not really matter all that much. That has to stop. We have to find consistent, persistent and sustained ways of putting gender inequality at the top of the agenda. It is only when some crisis forces it to be discussed that it is discussed but, unfortunately, such crises, such as that of the mother and baby homes most recently, are more frequent than we care to know. Before the mother and baby homes crisis came CervicalCheck, and quite frequently we debate domestic violence, which often results in tragic death. During the Covid crisis domestic violence has really escalated, leaving women - men too but mostly women - in danger, in isolation and without the supports and the ability to receive shelter. It is outrageous that this country spends more annually on the horse racing industry, which is not exactly dignifying itself at the moment, than on the question of domestic violence.

As other Deputies have repeatedly said throughout the course of the discussion so far, women take on the majority of childcare, home caring, nursing, care work in hospitals, cleaning and shop work. They are the front-line workers in the main and they have done us a heroic deed. We need to stick together with our social solidarity to honour the role they have played in trying to bring this public health crisis into check. On 8 March the Debenhams workers, whom I have to mention for their absolute bravery and consistent fightback, will mark International Women's Day as the 333rd day of their strike. They will be outside their local stores for anybody who wants to show them solidarity.

One cohort of women is being left behind disgracefully. We have recognised that most political leaders are not women. Most of the leaders on NPHET are not women. This is problematic because I think women bring with them a particular sense of compassion and a particular view on the world order and how to treat and get out of our problems inside that world order. Here I will mention the public health doctors, the vast majority of whom are women and who have been totally sidelined in a public health crisis. They had to take a vote for strike action but, because of their compassion, they never used that muscle during the pandemic. Here are fully trained public health doctors who have been sidelined by the system. It is outrageous. The same could be said of our laboratory scientists and technicians. We need women's voices as leaders, we need to be consistent and persistent and we need sustained discussion of the issues of gender inequality that face us every day, every year, not just on 8 March annually.

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