Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality has done incredible work cataloguing and making recommendations on a suite of issues that impact on inequity and discrimination concerning gender. It is important to note at the outset that this is a discussion about how gender affects individuals and groups in society.

It is not a discussion about women and girls. However, the patriarchal nature of our society means that it is women and girls who are most frequently disadvantaged.

The assembly’s report is an outline of many of the key matters that are consistently raised in this House, from the needs of people with disabilities to the cost of childcare and harmful and abusive content on social media. It should also be noted that there was overwhelming agreement on most of the issues, with many of the recommendations passing by over 90%. This level of agreement shows that when people are given the time to examine these topics, there is a strong consensus for a fairer society in which public services play a vital role.

This report confirmed something that I have often said, which is that most Irish people are social democrats, by which I mean they value the principles of a social democracy that strives for a more equitable society and locates the State as the primary actor to help achieve this in conjunction with civil society. This report is basically a manifesto for a living wage, publicly funded childcare, improved conditions for carers, better social protection, home care packages for older people and people with disabilities and gender balance in politics, public life and workplaces. This is a clear, independent barometer for this and future Governments. It is the yardstick by which actions on equality can be judged.

Successive Governments have a mixed track record with following up on the recommendations of citizens’ assemblies or constitutional conventions. They have helped progress some of our recent social referendums but equally, the findings on economic, social and cultural rights and extending voting franchises have really been left to individual Oireachtas Members to pursue. We need, therefore, the Government commitment to act on these recommendations and those of previous assemblies.

In my remaining time, I will focus on three of the many items raised in the recommendations, although there are many I would like to discuss.

First, on childcare, the assembly recommends that over the next decade, we should move to a publicly funded, accessible and regulated model of quality, affordable early years and out of hours childcare, which will be achieved by increasing the State share of GDP spent on childcare from the current 0.37% of GDP to at least 1% by no later than 2030, in line with the UNICEF target. This funding will make a substantial difference to hundreds of thousands of families across the country. This is an issue that disproportionately impacts on women who tend either to be childcare professionals or to spend more time at home caring for children. A SIPTU survey of the childcare sector released earlier this year showed that 90% of childcare workers struggle to make ends meet, 77% have no work sick pay scheme and just 10% received paid maternity leave from their employer. Many people, primarily women, who are employed in this sector are actively seeking other work.

There is a real need to increase the direct State funding to the childcare sector to help improve staff pay and working conditions and increase affordability for parents. We all know that we will not achieve equality in terms of gender until there is a fully accessible childcare system in this country.

The assembly has strong recommendations regarding domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It calls for sufficient publicly funded provision of beds, shelters and accommodation for victims and survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and their dependants across the country, in line with the Istanbul Convention. I have repeatedly raised this exact point. Under the Istanbul Convention, the State is required to provide one refuge space for every 10,000 people in Ireland. However, we only provide one refuge space per 10,000 women. That is, therefore, 50% less than what is recommended to be the bare minimum. The Department seems content to provide half that amount of refuge spaces due to a clause that refers to other supports. Clearly, however, its interpretation is incorrect. The assembly reinforces the need for the proper number of refuge spaces and the report states:

nearly 99% were in favour of ensuring that there is sufficient housing and accommodation for victims/survivors. The Istanbul Convention recommends one shelter space to every 10,000 people in Ireland.

It is unambiguous. We need the Government to fulfil our obligations under the Istanbul Convention immediately.

A related recommendation calls for a Cabinet Minister with direct responsibility for implementation of a national strategy to prevent and counter domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This reflects the complexity of domestic abuse, which has relevance for the Departments of Health and Housing, Local Government and Heritage just as much as the Departments of Justice and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. It is one of those cross-cutting issues that needs targeted attention, probably driven by a single person.

On this point, I am guided by support organisations and advocates, which have repeatedly called for a dedicated Minister with reach across all those Departments and agencies, with which a survivor may interact, in addition to a Cabinet standing committee. We need this leadership to drive the necessary transformative change to provide integrated support, on-the-ground specialists and preventative strategies. I suggest that the new committee looking at these recommendations would focus on this role, which may be a Minister of State - I am not sure - but someone whose sole responsibility is driving a far-reaching strategy on domestic and sexual violence.

It is also important to say that a number of sub-recommendations on victim support and reforms of our court systems are under way. This is incredibly welcome but we must still be aware of the considerable barriers that victims and survivors face in even considering reporting these crimes. Two weeks ago, Rape Crisis Network Ireland revealed that there has been a 22% increase in helpline calls during the pandemic and that over the past decade, there was a 100% increase in calls. Women, children and men are all reaching out. The assembly’s findings are a fresh call to re-double our efforts in response.

Third, there are direct recommendations on stereotypes in education and the media, highlighting the need for our education system and media advertising to promote gender diversity. I am a strong believer in the idea that you have to see it to be it. We need to ensure that children and young people have a selection of role models to help them develop.

As the assembly recommends, this means strengthening existing programmes to encourage women into male-dominated careers and developing initiatives to encourage men into female-dominated careers. The latter point is often overlooked. We probably all know men who would have been incredible nurses, therapists or secretaries and perhaps would have been, had social norms facilitated them in pursuing these careers.

The conclusions on media and advertising are also significant as this is an incredibly influential area with little oversight. The assembly has called for stronger regulations to promote gender equality and avoid gender discrimination and stereotyping and take action where discriminatory behaviours occur. This is very relevant when we consider the work of the Why Not Her collective, of which I am sure the Minister has heard. This work has shown that up until recently, a person is more than five times more likely to hear an Irish male artist than an Irish female artist on Irish radio. The collective's monitoring of gender disparity on Irish radio revealed that issue and, even more importantly than revealing the issue, its work has resulted in some of the stations consciously changing this pattern. Over the past year, therefore, for the top 20 most played songs by Irish artists, some stations have gone from 0% women on the top 20 most played list, to be specific, to more than 20%. Therefore, we need this trend to continue. When similar research was conducted in the UK, stations changed their practices and confronted their bias. Like I said, some Irish radio stations have begun to consciously support Irish women artists and we need the rest to follow. We need the industry and the Government to work together to give these talented artists airplay.

Representation matters. What we see online, on television and in schoolbooks really shapes our understanding of the world. For children, it influences career choices. We need to make more opportunities available to more young people.

In closing, I note that this item is being covered today due to the determination of a number of Members, mainly Deputy Carroll MacNeill. The recommendations were published in June and these matters should have been discussed long before the budget.

I call for the forthcoming new committee on gender equality to have members from all political groupings given the importance of matters it will consider. I request that all groups, especially the larger parties, ensure that they have sufficient numbers of male representatives on the committee. As I said, gender does not mean it is just a women and girls issue. There are distinct gender patterns on our Oireachtas committees at the moment reflecting those kinds of societal stereotypes, from the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, which have only one female member - there are no female Deputies on the agriculture committee - to the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, which has a majority of female members. It is somewhat similar on the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

In terms of gender equality in Ireland in general, one of the sad realities is that when we gained independence as a country, that is when things really went south for women for gender equality. I did not actually mean the pun when I said, "going south". I cannot speak for all women but I know that most of us are also proud to be Irish and to have that independence. It is kind of a horrible feeling when one thinks about the reality of happened for us when we got independence. It really is time to change that. We have the Citizens' Assembly report now. What we require is the political will to change this and I really hope that exists.

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