Seanad debates
Wednesday, 18 June 2003
European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Second Stage.
I have no great difficulty with the 1937 Constitution. It contains some quaint language, particularly in the area of women's rights. The most explicitly quaint statement in the Constitution appears in Article 41.2: "The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home." I would be the last person to require any woman to work inside the home, but it is a pity that the constitutional assertion that a woman should not be obliged to work outside the home was not tested. It would do a great deal for women's rights if the right to make a choice was vindicated under the Constitution. Nevertheless, I am an admirer of the Constitution.
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