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

The west Cork author, Louise O'Neill, wrote over the weekend that she did not feel like celebrating International Women's Day this year. Louise, as Members probably all know, powerfully captures the complexities and realities of being a young woman in Ireland. She describes the ongoing issues girls and women face, the weariness of having to raise the same points over and over and over, and the disillusionment she feels when nothing ever changes. I know exactly where she is coming from. On one level it is great that statements on International Women's Day is almost a standing annual topic in the Dáil. Women and girls and the issues that directly affect them deserve and need that attention. However, it is also symbolic of the tokenism that surrounds International Women's Day. I genuinely considered giving the same speech I did last year. Would anyone notice? Would I notice? I could talk about the same issues with a few updated statistics. It is the same problems year after year.

There is amazing work being done by women and their allies. Progress is happening, slowly, but it takes so much effort. We still have to fight for places in leadership, for period products to be appreciated as essential, for female role models to be given a platform. This year of all years we would have hoped for something different. After the tragic killing of Ashling Murphy, the need for substantive change was palpable. It took the death of another young woman and a national outpouring for the Government to eventually act. Apparently we are moving towards more domestic violence refuge spaces. Currently we only have about one third of the spaces required for our population because for years Governments have failed to meet our obligations under the Istanbul Convention. When meeting the bare minimum of required spaces is championed as a good news story, it shows how far we still have to go. In January there was an urgent need to change our culture around gender-based violence. By February, banter was back. Gender equality matters every day. The support and solidarity and protest matter today but what is the point if they are not followed up by action on the other 364 days of the year?

Oftentimes we cannot even have today. Online searches for International Men's Day spike on International Women's Day. To all those asking on social media, International Men's Day is on 19 November and yes, I spoke then as well, highlighting issues affecting men. What did you do? If you are only concerned about men's day on women's day, it is safe to say we all know what is your real priority. Given the evidence, it is clear that besides days like today, women's issues are sidelined. We see it in uncertainty around control of the national maternity hospital, the lack of progress on eating disorders and the continuing disgraceful treatment of women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal. The list goes on. Incredibly important issues are allowed to drag on and on. Too often, it falls to female public representatives to raise these issues and it is exhausting. There are too few of us and there are too many issues.

The women in agriculture stakeholders group does incredible work supporting women in the sector and encouraging greater participation. However, when the farming organisations are dominated by men and the Oireachtas agriculture committee has no female Deputy, progress is restricted. We need consideration and conversation around how gender impacts all issues. Housing is a women's issue yet the Government's Housing for All plan has worryingly little reference to the supports needed by women and children fleeing domestic violence. Child support is a women's issue. A lack of access to public transport is a social and economic limitation but it is also a safety issue. Waiting for buses and trains in poorly lit spaces puts women off even going out.

Our policies also have to be intersectional. International Women's Day is equally about disability rights, trans rights, migrant women and Traveller and Minceir women and girls. Refugees are rightly foremost in our national conversation this week. Women and children make up 80% of refugees and displaced people. However, we have obligations to refugees fleeing all conflicts. There are still Afghan, Syrian and other refugees we can and should assist. Ireland has amazingly dedicated women working in communities driving action through solidarity on shoestring budgets. West Cork Women Against Domestic Violence does literally lifesaving work. The sexual violence centre is Cork is 30 years ago today. Anew supports pregnant women and new mothers experiencing or at risk of homelessness. I could go on all day. We have a strong bottom-up approach. What we need now is a top-down one.

I cannot help but return to the lack of women and diversity in the Oireachtas and in boardrooms. The family friendly Dáil reform committee has a report and actions which are ready to be implemented. Political parties are getting more funding to improve their gender representation but this requires commitments to electing women, not just running candidates and putting names on tickets. It is clear what needs to be done. The question is whether it will actually happen. I can only hope that things will be brighter next year, that we do not have to repeat the same speeches, the same talking points, form the same kind of committees and produce the same kind of reports over and over again to be followed by no actions. In closing I will return to Louise O'Neill's words:

"On International Women's Day, I don't want to go for a Prosecco brunch with my best gals and I don't want to post a photo of my mother on Instagram, with a caption about strong women - may we know them, may we raise them, may we be them, etc. I want real, institutional change. I want a country that protects its women and girls. I want to feel safe."

See this speech in context