Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

International Women's Day, Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan, is when we always hear the phrase, "Lots done, lots more to do." I hate that phrase. I see it in my old social media posts where I would say things like, “Yay! Look how far we have come! We have done so much work and we have got lots more to do.” I was very optimistic about things. I do no know if I am just having a bad year, a bad day, a bad International Women’s Day week or because it is the day after International Women’s Day, but when I think about the “lots more to do” things, I think of safe access zones. We have been around this House a number of times talking about safe access zones and there are promises of this, that and the other. The gender pay gap is another example. I note the Minister’s opening statement listed very important things that he and his Department are doing. I want to thank him and his Department for that. I am very glad that he is the Minister in there because I do not doubt his sincerity and commitment to equality. Bear with me on my bad humour during international women’s week.

Today affordable childcare was mentioned. My colleague, Senator Warfield, talked about transgender healthcare and how we used to be a beacon for transgender rights. Part of the problem with having been a beacon is that we are getting much transphobia nonsense coming in from the UK. It seems somewhat ridiculous when we have our transgender siblings fighting so hard for basic healthcare needs.

On diverse representation in politics, we look around our Houses and it is nowhere near where it needs to be. These are issues that we are raising again and again. The Minister has heard them, I have said them and women are sick of raising them. I am sick of raising them. I would not like to be the Minister for Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth because it must be an enormous pressure, with all of these things that just keep going around and around.

It feels a little bit hollow standing up and talking about International Women’s Day when I think of Ms Vicky Phelan, who announced that she is not well enough to travel to do the fundraising she was planning to do with Mr. Charlie Bird. She is not well at the hands of the State. Some 80% of Traveller women are rearing children without running water or toilet facilities. There was a women dead for four days, potentially, in a direct provision centre in Cork. The new national maternity hospital will built on Catholic-owned land. Women in Ukraine are fleeing from war imposed by a cracked dictator. Mothers in Yemen are looking at their starving children. There is violence in Palestine and there was a picture yesterday of a young boy beside the body of his mother after his whole family had been killed. It feels very hollow to be standing up and talking about seeing some of the #GirlBoss stuff that some of the corporations have been doing. It just feels so sanitised and hollow when there are these very real issues affecting women.

It also feels a little bit hollow to stand up here today on International Women’s Day 2022 when we could have had transformative change. We have had two years of an incomprehensible global pandemic. Out of that, we could have had real opportunities for working from home, flexible work, the right to switch off, a four-day week and affordable childcare. Some of these things were not about reimagining how we could have been as a society. Many of those things that people connected with and felt during the lockdowns were actually a reconnecting with their community and tribe and a reconnecting with themselves and ourselves. It seems to be a little be like we are going back to the same old thing. I was driving by Pearse Station this morning and there was a line of people trudging getting off the train and everyone trudging back to their workplaces. I wondered how we are back at this again. We could have a transformative society about balancing work, family, life, joy and happiness. It just felt very glum watching everyone trudge up Pearse Street coming off the train this morning.

We have also had a stark reminder this year, as the Minister referenced, that simply taking up space is dangerous for women. Ms Ashling Murphy just existed and she was murdered for that. There are thousands of women everyday who just exist and they are murdered just for existing. We are constantly telling young women to be unobtrusive and to take up less space.

International Women’s Day was part of a campaign of women’s trade union and garment workers to tackle poor working conditions, low wages and sexual harassment. It seems we are still talking about those very things.

As I said, I feel like International Women’s Day 2022 does not resonate with me. I feel a little bit afloat or adrift from it. I have had enough of this kind of asinine corporate #GirlBoss, lean in, "you can do it" feminism kind of stuff, which is everywhere. It is very draining.

I am in here because I talk about wanting a seat at the table. I put myself forward for election because I wanted a seat at the table and I want to be able to effect change. However, the more I am in this, the more that I come to realise that the table was built by the patriarchy to uphold the patriarchy, and I am not entirely sure the benefit of getting me at that table. I want to just smash up the table, toss it out the window and repurpose the wood for a community building project. I find myself really conflicted and frustrated at the moment about how we can effect change as women. It seems like we all come in here and we talk about issues and share issues every single year and it just feels like we are just not moving, even though we are obviously moving, because it would be silly of me to say that we are not.

The feminist fight is not over. I will get over my frustration and I will put on my “Smash the Patriarchy” t-shirt tomorrow and I will brush myself off and get back to it. Those of us who see the fight for equality every single day will keep it going. I have no doubt that the Minister is one of those people. I will submit a report to the repeal review. I will keep fighting for student nurses and midwives and on and on. The grind will keep going. However, I feel like next year we will be back and ruefully saying, once again, “So much done, so much left to do” as if the powers that be were impotent and could do nothing to effect real feminist change in the intervening year. I wish the Minister the very best with the work his Department is doing. I hope that other Departments can take inspiration from that. Happy International Women’s Day yesterday #GirlBoss.