Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very glad that my colleague, Deputy Higgins, mentioned Frances Fitzgerald, MEP. Deputy Higgins worked for Frances Fitzgerald, I worked for Frances Fitzgerald and the Minister, Deputy Harris, worked for Frances Fitzgerald. She was the very essence of opening the door and providing encouragement rather than closing the door or pulling up the ladder. That deserves mention. I am also glad Deputy Higgins mentioned the fantastic report, led by Frances Fitzgerald, of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality published in November of last year on how Covid-19 has impacted women specifically. I wish to take this opportunity, if it is in order, to use my contribution to read elements of the report into the record because it summarises better than I could the range of experiences women have had and the distinct effect Covid-19 has had.

According to the report, it is clear that the Covid-19 crisis has had "clear gender perspectives" as it affects women and men differently. The report states that "women and girls will be affected disproportionately in the short, medium and long term" and that the pandemic "has exacerbated existing structural gender inequalities, in particular for girls and women from marginalised groups". The report states that "whereas official mortality figures show that men have a higher death rate from the virus than women", "women are more at risk of contracting the virus due to their disproportionately high representation among frontline workers in essential sectors during the current crises".

As for health, "as a result of the cancellation or postponement of 'non-essential' health services, a delay, and sometimes barriers, arose in accessing critical care for urgent complaints". In particular, for women "access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and services were hampered with serious consequences, and some legal attempts were made to limit the right to safe and legal abortion in certain [EU] Member States". There have also been limits to "IVF services, and provisions for clinical management in the case of rape".

Reports and figures not just from here but from several EU member states "during and following the confinement period revealed a worrying increase in domestic and gender-based violence, including physical violence, psychological violence, coercive control and cyber violence". We have spoken about that in this House several times. The report states that "violence is not a private issue but a societal concern" and "lockdown measures make it more difficult for victims of intimate partner violence to seek help as they are often confined with their abusers, and limited access to support services such as women's shelters and hotlines and insufficient support structures and resources can exacerbate an already existing 'shadow' pandemic".

The report continues:

whereas confinement and isolation measures may have led to a higher risk of female genital mutilation, FGM, with cases going undetected [including in this country] due to the interruption of schooling; whereas economic and social stresses are exacerbating factors which could lead to an increase in domestic and gender-based violence in the long term and make it harder for women to leave abusive partners;

whereas the greater use of the internet during the pandemic increases online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence and the online sexual abuse of children and especially girls; whereas human rights defenders, women in politics, female journalists, women belonging to ethnic minorities, indigenous women, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, and women with disabilities are particularly targeted by ICT-facilitated violence.

That is what it is. The report states:

whereas a majority of workers delivering essential services in the current crisis are women, including 76% of healthcare workers..., 82% of cashiers, 93% of child care workers and teachers, 95% of domestic cleaners and helpers, and 86% of personal care workers in the EU; whereas it is thanks to them for whom physical distancing is often not an option and who thus bear the increased burden of possibly spreading the virus to their relatives, that our economic, social and healthcare systems, our public life and our essential activities are maintained;

whereas wages in many essential and significantly female-dominated sectors can be low, with often only the minimum wage being paid; whereas horizontal and vertical labour market segregation in the EU is still significant, with women overrepresented in less profitable sectors; whereas 30% of women work in education, health and social work, compared to 8% of men, and 7% of women work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics compared to 33% of men; whereas the International Labour Organisation warns that certain groups will be disproportionately affected by the economic crisis, including those entering the labour market, thereby increasing inequality...; whereas there is reason for concern about job losses in women-dominated professions due to the crisis; whereas male-dominated sectors are likely to recover earlier than typical female-dominated ones;...

whereas women are more likely to be in temporary, part-time and precarious employment than men (26.5% compared to 15.1% of men), and have therefore been, and will be in the long run, significantly impacted by job losses...

In my own words, I wish to highlight that the motherhood gap has never been properly recognised in this State. This has been shown to be particularly relevant during this pandemic. It is not a matter for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; it is absolutely a matter of labour market optimisation and must be recognised by the financial Departments of this State as such.

The report continues:

whereas research from Eurofound shows that the Covid-19 crisis poses a serious risk of rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality in labour market participation, particularly if activity is further hampered in sectors overrepresented by women; whereas research shows that the reduction in the gender employment gap has stagnated over the past few years...

whereas Covid-19 has exposed a long-standing problem in care provision in many EU Member States; whereas care needs to be viewed holistically along a continuum, from childcare to after-school care, to care for those with disabilities and to care for older persons.

I say this for every woman in Ireland tonight:

whereas the closure of schools, care centres and workplaces has increased the unequal distribution of non-paid domestic and care responsibilities within the home for women who, often in addition to balancing working from home, were left without sufficient support for child and elderly care; whereas remote working is not a substitute for childcare; whereas women usually spend 13 hours more each week than men on unpaid care and housework [except in my house, of course. My husband is wonderful]; whereas the Covid-19 crisis has been an opportunity for men to become more involved in care responsibilities, yet has also revealed how uneven the share of care and housework still is, which will most likely affect women and girls more severely; whereas balancing telework and family responsibilities adds additional strain, and women therefore face an increased emotional, mental and social burden; whereas this could result in fewer achievements at work and have an impact on their professional development compared to their male peers;

I know that what I am saying here rings true to women listening tonight. The report goes on:

whereas a disproportionate and extreme burden has been placed on single parents, 85% of whom are women amounting to 6.7 million single-mother households in the EU, almost half of which are at serious risk of social exclusion or poverty;

whereas survey results show that Covid-19 had a heavier impact on women with young children than on men with the same household situation; whereas almost one third (29%) of women with young children found it hard to concentrate on their work, compared to 16% of men with young children; whereas twice as many women with children (29%) were likely to feel too tired after work to do household work, compared to 16% of men; whereas in April 2020 women with children aged 0-11 were more likely to feel tense than men with children in the same age range (23% vs 19%), or to feel lonely (14% vs 6%) and depressed (14% vs 9%);...

whereas women are not as equally involved as men when it comes to decision-making in the recovery phase, due to the existing glass ceiling; whereas women, and their representative civil society organisations [such as this House], must play an active and central role in decision-making processes to ensure that their perspectives and needs are taken into account in the decision-making, design, implementation and monitoring of the recovery phase...

It is clear that these issues persist across the EU, and that this State is not alone in its failure to include and respect women and their abilities in every walk of our State and society. It is crucial that we address the under-representation of women in this House, the representative Chamber of our democracy.

Women and men are different. There is no reason to pretend otherwise or to want it to be otherwise. This week, I looked at the research published by Women for Election, showing the overwhelming proportion of women in politics who needed to be asked to run, rather than putting themselves forward. Is this a reticence or a mark of a lack of confidence, as some have perceived? Or is it actually just an inherently different female trait that needs to be anticipated and accommodated as just as valid an approach as any other? I include myself in this apparent strike against women's advancement, having had to be asked to run. Perhaps this difference in approach reflects that women and men are different, and it is this very difference in approach and their range of approaches that is a strength to society. The pressure for women to behave in any way that is other than what they are naturally, is itself a strike against their natural participation. We need more women in this House. We need more women bringing their brilliant, natural selves and the depth of their personal and professional experience and skill. We need more women being themselves, participating in their own way in their own style, with their own style, without fear of the stupidity of most of the comments to which they can be subjected for doing so, which silences them. We need it everywhere else too.

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