Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mar a dúirt me ar maidin, guím Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan sona ar gach éinne sa Teach. It is good to celebrate International Women's Day with these statements. It was good to celebrate with the women’s caucus earlier at the unveiling of statues of Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese in the hall of Leinster House. It is very good to hear that the Government intends to run the referendum on gender equality this autumn. I welcome that and thank the Minister for his kind remarks on the work of the Joint Committee on Gender Equality, which I was honoured to chair and which produced a report in December. Our report seeks the development of an action plan for the implementation of the 45 recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I thank the Minister and other Ministers for their engagement with the committee. I thank the members of the committee who gave so much time on a cross-party basis and all the stakeholders, civil society groups, experts, NGOs and others who engaged with us, particularly the members of the citizens' assembly and those with lived experience of discrimination. We heard from many people during our hearings and found their testimonies extremely valuable.

The first three recommendations in our report and in that of the citizens' assembly relate to the constitutional change we are glad to see committed to in November. The strength of our report is we were able to devise and propose a precise wording for each of the referendums. The referendums would seek to do three things. First, they would insert express protection for gender equality in the Constitution in our equality guarantee, as well as for the principles of non-discrimination and equality generally. Second, they would delete the sexist and outdated language about women and mothers in Article 41 and replace it with a gender-neutral recognition of care. That is a hugely important and significant change which we must make. Third, we recommended the insertion of a more inclusive definition of "family", not limited to that based on marriage. We are hopeful and optimistic those changes will be put to the people in November, as the Government has said. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for setting out the timeline and I look forward to working with colleagues of all parties and none on achieving that necessary constitutional change.

Such change is only the start of the work that needs to be done on gender equality. Our committee took the view that the 45 recommendations of the assembly, chaired so well by Catherine Day, represent a blueprint for achieving a gender-equal Ireland and need to be implemented in full. The report sets out an action plan addressing measures to be taken across an array of areas, particularly that of care. The Minister spoke of the changes made by Government on care and those are acknowledged but it is essential we move more swiftly to the publicly funded, affordable system of childcare the citizens' assembly asked us to implement. For too many women and men, lack of access to childcare and early years education is holding them and their children back. There is a failure to provide for an equal early years start for children. That needs to change. More generally, we recommended a national planning unit be implemented on care. We heard from caregivers and those receiving care about an absence of data and an absence of a structured framework for protection and valuing of care. The Taoiseach in response to a question I asked earlier referred to a care commission the Government proposes to set up later this year. Will the Minister say a little more about that? I am not sure whether that is a general commission on care to look at all facets from childcare and early years through to elder care.

We were cognisant in our report of the need to ensure equality for women in the workplace. I acknowledge the progress made on gender pay gap reporting. I am sorry the Government still has not introduced the reproductive health leave and early miscarriage leave we in Labour have been pressing for. Two years ago today, we introduced a reproductive health-related leave Bill that would have provided, for the first time, recognition of the need for leave for early miscarriage for women. I hope we see more progress on that.

We should acknowledge that the trade union movement originated International Women's Day when, in 1911, New York women garment workers went on strike demanding decent and safe work. Two years later in this jurisdiction, the Irish Women Workers Union struggled for basic pay and conditions in the 1913 Lock-out. The workplace is a key area where we need to see gender equality breakthroughs made.

There are other areas which need action. Today the Irish Cancer Society told us of the need to amend maternity protection law in order to ensure that women undergoing cancer treatment will not forfeit any maternity leave. That is an important workplace-related issue for women’s equality.

On domestic violence, I received confirmation from the Department of Justice yesterday that more than 4,700 reports were made to gardaí last year for breaches of protection orders and safety orders. We still lack the necessary refuge spaces for women. Women have been discriminated against in Irish society for far too long, including by means of incarceration in Magdalen institutions and mother and baby homes.

Importantly, other speakers indicated that this is an international struggle. Women’s rights have been trampled on in recent year in Afghanistan and in Iran, where women are mobilising admirably in the face of a brutal regime. We think of the women of Ukraine suffering so much under the brutal Russian invasion, as well as women in Yemen, Palestine and other jurisdictions.

Another aspect of the gender equality report we hope to see Government act on is women in politics. As our report says, until we achieve a representative democracy, our democracy will be unfinished. While in this House only 23% of Teachtaí Dála are women, we have not come near achieving the equal representation we so need. I recall the old suffragette slogan “Deeds not words”. Today on International Women's Day we need to see deeds and words, not just a commitment to a gender equality referendum but a commitment to extending the quota. Let us extend the quota from general elections to local and European elections. That would be a step toward achieving balanced representation in the Oireachtas.

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