Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. International Women's Day is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is an important day for women, and for us men, because gender equality benefits everybody and is identified by the UN as the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. According to the latest report of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, published last week, for the first time in history not a single functioning parliament in the world is male only. The participation of women in parliament has never been as diverse and representative as it is today. This is good news but still only 23% of our Deputies and 39% of Senators are women. We still have some way to go towards a gender balance in our national Parliament that is truly reflective of Irish society.

The theme of International Women's Day this year is a celebration of women driving digital innovation and technological advancement. We live in a digital world where we depend on digital tools and processes for everyday things, but advancing technology is also introducing new forms of inequality and there is a real gender gap in our digital world. International Women's Day recognises the women and girls who are champions for the advancement of technology and calls for a safer, more inclusive and fairer digital future for us all.

Today is a day of celebration. As we know, women have helped change the world in so many ways. In keeping with the theme of this year's International Women's Day, let us embrace equity and build a better world for women that is better than what we have today.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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International Women's Day is an important day for us all and a reminder of the need for equality and mutual respect among all people. I acknowledge all the women who are experiencing conflict and displacement at this time. Among their number are the many Ukrainian women and girls who have come to Ireland for protection over the past year.

As Minister with responsibility for gender equality, International Women’s Day is a significant day and a reminder of my Department’s mission of working towards "a fair, equal and inclusive society where rights are respected, and where everyone can reach their potential". Over the coming months, my Department will begin consultations with a view to developing a successor strategy to the National Strategy for Women and Girls. The new strategy will respond to the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and set our agenda for the next period. Among the key issues to be addressed are the recommendations for amendments to Articles 40 and 41 of the Constitution, which will be a priority for the Government to progress over the coming months. The year 2022 has been a year in which, despite significant and ongoing challenges, we have kept gender equality high on the agenda and succeeded in bringing to fruition a number of initiatives that have been planned and implemented under the National Strategy for Women and Girls.

Continuing with the expansion of family leave to support working parents, the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 passed all stages in the Seanad last week. When enacted, this will provide for a right to request flexible working, leave for medical care purposes, and extend the entitlement to breast-feeding breaks under the maternity protection Acts to two full years. This will also support the long-standing policy to support a greater uptake of breast-feeding in a child’s first two years and support women's return to work after maternity leave. The Government is committed to further extending parent’s leave and benefit to nine weeks by August 2024.

We have delivered on the commitment in the National Strategy for Women and Girls to promote pay transparency by requiring employers to calculate and publish information on the gender pay gaps within their organisation, beginning in December 2022 with large employers. Over the coming years, these reporting obligations will be extended to organisations with more than 150, and then 50, employees. I am pleased to see employers across the private and public sector engaging with their findings and examining the factors that contribute to pay gaps. It is heartening to see exemplars of good practice already emerging. Gender pay gap reporting is providing transparency for employees as to what companies are doing and which companies are doing the most to address their gender pay gaps.

Gender pay gap reporting has highlighted imbalances in the representation of women and men at different levels across organisations and sectors that contribute to the existence of gender pay gaps. In particular, it has made transparent an under-representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles. My Department plans to develop a centralised reporting database for future reporting cycles that will provide easier access to these reports, and easier comparison of employers’ gender pay gap metrics across sectors and over time.

In a diverse range of sectors across our society, steps have been taken across government to ensure that women’s voices are amplified in areas where they were previously under-represented, with the recent Common Agriculture Policy, for example, committing to increase women’s active participation in farming. In the ICT sector, Harnessing Digital, Ireland’s national digital strategy, aims to increase the number of women in leadership roles in digital companies. This week, in leading Ireland’s delegation to the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, I contributed to discussion on the priority theme of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In this context, recent strategies, such as the new digital strategy for schools that aims to ensure that girls and boys have equal access to digital education, are key to facilitating women to participate and progress in careers in new and emerging technologies.

I thank the Senators for this opportunity to speak to them on this issue, as we mark the very important day of International Women’s Day. As I outlined, the Government is continuing to work to address gender inequality across a range of areas. In the coming months, we aim to keep the momentum built up over the last year, with a view to seeing the development of a successor strategy to the National Strategy for Women and Girls, which will respond to the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality. I thank the Senators for the invitation. I look forward to their contributions and responding to them later.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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Tá an-áthas orm a bheith anseo ar Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan. Is mór an onóir dom a bheith mar bhean sa Seomra seo. Tá níos mó ban ag teastáil. Mar a dúirt an tAire, níl ach 23% sa Dáil agus 39% sa Seanad. Is mór an trua é sin.

It is a huge honour to be a woman in this House. I never in my life realised how weird it feels to be a woman trying to organise anything where the majority in the room are men, until I walked into the Seanad two and a half years ago where almost 40% of those present were women. It was probably 50% women as some of the men were missing. The feeling I got when I walked in that day made me realise the lack of that feeling I had in most of my prior experience in the areas of computer science, maths, physics and political life. I did not realise I had missed that feeling. What a different feeling it is to be in a room as a woman, where the majority of those present are men. I studied computer science and mathematics-physics in college. There were seven girls and 35 lads on the course. To that end, it was often said to me by the men that I should just sign my name to the group work they would do, and go do girly things, while they took care of the mathematics-physics project or whatever. That was a long time ago now. I hope things have improved. I saw two of the projects by girls who were winners in the young scientist of the year competition were around technology. It is great to see that happening.

I thank the Minister. When he and the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, took up their posts, I thought they would be a great team that would make a significant difference. Huge strides have been made around the gender pay gap, breast-feeding and other issues around sexual violence towards women. I thank the Ministers for that. Of course, there is much more to be done and it will be a hard battle. Until more women are at the decision-making tables, whether it is in the public, private or any sector, women's issues will not be dealt with. For example, 88% of carers in Ireland are female. As a result, carers have a very precarious job. It is very difficult for them, the pay is not great and they do not get mileage. Many of them are not sure about job security and we do not have enough of them. I firmly believe if more women were involved in decision-making we would not have this issue with carers being - I will not use the word "mistreated" - taken for granted and underpaid. That is a huge issue because carers are the ones who take care of those with disabilities and older people in our society. You can call me sexist and say this is total generalisation but women are generally the primary carers and educators, and the primary people dealing with health issues. Unfortunately, they are the ones dealing with those issues but are not doing so at the decision-making table. That is something that is really lacking.

It will serve everybody in society, both men and women, if we have more gender equality.Women and men are not the same but we are definitely equal. We need to understand that it is not a big challenge and that it is not about standing on the men to get out of our way. We want to do this with them. We need to all do it together. We need equality as much as possible. Unfortunately, because we have come through this patriarchy that we are still very much in, women often do not feel qualified enough to put themselves forward for positions. Men are happy to put themselves forward for positions they are not qualified for. Women have to feel overqualified for a position before they put their hand up and apply for it. We really need to try to change that.

People can get offended if they want to but I am over that now. The other thing I wanted to say is that sometimes I still experience moments in meetings where I am either mansplained or I say something, whoever is chairing the meeting does not really hear it, then a man says the exact same thing and the person chairing the meeting says it is a brilliant idea. I do not know if that happens to others here. I would say I had literally just said that and would have to ask the chair if we are just here for fun. This happens within the walls of this building too. It is shocking. I brought it up at a women's event last week. Many of my colleagues in the Seanad and Dáil agreed. The men in here are great and I have nothing against them, but they need to be more aware that they do that, even the liberal ones who think they are left wing and very down with equality. It is not their fault but when people are raised in a patriarchy, it is insidious and embedded in us. Some of us women might not hear a woman before we would hear a man. We are all sexist. I will not just blame men for this.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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Senator Garvey can speak for herself.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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Since women come from a patriarchy, we may sometimes undervalue women ourselves, because that is part of our societal expectation. One might presume that the doctor is a man and the nurse is a woman, and so on. People catch themselves on over the years once they become more aware of how embedded the patriarchy and inequality are in society. We are all sexist. I am not just blaming men for this. I ask the men of both Houses, if they are chairing committees or at meetings, to be aware that this is a common occurrence among the men here. I have definitely experienced it in other places outside Leinster House too. It is not unique to Leinster House by any means. It happens among left-wing liberals too, environmental activists and community activists. One can say something which is completely ignored, then a man says the exact same thing and the person chairing says it is a brilliant idea and that we will do it. I am assertive and well able for it. I wanted to draw attention to it. It is 2023 and that is no longer acceptable. We want to not just be seen but to be heard as equals.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. It is always a pleasure to address the House on International Women's Day as part of the Seanad Independent Group. There are many things that we could discuss about women today, including the incredibly varied lived experience of the women of Ireland and their essential contributions to this country, what it is to be a mother and what it is to be a woman in business and enterprise.

I want to talk about an area which is common to all of us here, which is being a woman in politics. I have been in politics since 1997. While many things can be said about it, two are definitely true. One is that it is a tough business and one has to have some backbone if one wants to get things done. The other is that one gets multiples of what one puts in out of it. It has been, is and, fingers crossed, will continue to be an absolute privilege to be able to serve my country and the people of Ireland in this manner in public office.

We have had discussions in the past couple of years of male violence perpetrated against women and I think these discussions should continue, particularly when it comes to protecting female-only spaces, such as bathrooms, changing rooms and prisons. As one climbs the ladder in politics, the knives get sharper and they are not being held by men. It is not cat calls one has to worry about in Leinster House but cat claws. The sex-based solidarity of suffragettes seems truly dead and gone. It seems now that ideology is the only value of persons and that problematic women with the wrong ideas must be willing to go it alone. I, for one, am proud to represent the majority in this House, the ordinary, everyday, honest people of Ireland who do not expect too much from their Government. They want a roof over their heads, a job and bills that can be paid. They want to be able to have a family and to support it. They want a prosperous future for their children. Nowadays, it seems that, too often, these humble asks are overshadowed by the demands of highly funded special interest NGOs, whose minority opinions and astroturfed movements seem to dictate the majority of public discourse.

My message today is to the women of Ireland who see what is happening in this country and who do not feel represented by the political class. They want to see more women taking a stand and fighting for what is right. If you feel that you have what it takes, go for it. Be that woman because one woman can certainly make a difference. We know that because we have seen it time and again. While she is not here today, I commend Senator Alice-Mary Higgins, who I think is one of the finest parliamentarians we have. We do not agree on everything but she puts the work and hours in and she makes a difference. I hope someone is keeping track of the number of Bills which have been improved by her amendments. Much has been done and is being done by female Independent Deputies in the Lower House, including Deputies Verona Murphy, Catherine Connolly, Carol Nolan and Marian Harkin. On issue after issue, they have been the real Opposition to the Government, free from a party whip to stand up and tell it like it is, and speak the truth even when others find it inconvenient.

My message today is one of empowerment. It is an overused word these days but I mean it in the strictest sense. The women of Ireland have the power to effect change. If you have that fire in you, do not let it go out. If you think you might be able to do it and dream of doing it, then do it. I call on the women of Ireland to put themselves forward as independent candidates in the 2024 local elections. Anyone who wants to do it can contact me and I will help them. I ask those of you who are in a position to do so to take that leap. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Who knows but that you have come to your position for such a time as this?

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I read a quote this morning, which states:

Here's to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.

I would add to that, saying here's to the men who support us, respect us, work with us and who are great colleagues. I would count the Minister among them as being a really good colleague. From the moment he stepped into his job, he has done nothing but advance the cause of equality, not just for women but across our whole society. Well done on that.

I am departing from the theme of the day and I possibly say this every year, but as a very young girl, I was brought to mass on a Sunday. It was the very first mass in a new church. The priest got up and announced that he wanted men to volunteer to do the readings and women to volunteer to clean the church. My mother's first outing and instruction to me in feminism was when she challenged him at the end of the mass, asking who he thought he was and remarking on his cheek for presuming that women were incapable of doing the readings and that men were incapable of cleaning the church. I was indoctrinated at a young age to stand my ground and call it out when I saw it.

I will thank a couple of people. First, I thank my mother for being a great model to me in standing one's ground, standing up for who one is, and having a value of women beyond any of the stereotypes that are cast at them. I want to spend my time this morning thanking a few particular women who have been extraordinary. To do what they do causes much stress. I hope that we are all on a trajectory to alleviate that stress. The first woman I want to support and really thank is a woman called Kathy Egan. With her husband Brian, they are facing the fact that he is very ill, with the possibility that he is terminally ill.She has stood up for the right to be known as the mother of her second child - the child she did not give birth to but had via surrogacy. She endures. She has attended court. She has cared for and loved her family and has been an incredible colleague in surrogacy advocacy. I just want to thank her this morning. She lives through a lot of stress and worry. Even as early as this morning, I spoke with the Minister for Health's office. I am very hopeful that we will have good news in the next few weeks. She stands for what is right and perseveres even when it is hard.

I also commend three women with whom I work locally, MJ and Helen from the Dublin 12 autism group and Miriam Kenny from Involve Autism, who are tireless campaigners on behalf of their children and as a consequence, on behalf of all children. We see great moves forward. We have seen it with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who I am delighted to see is fully in under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. We will see great steps forward. Parents and mothers in Dublin 12 who in CHO 7 have very little to no services, which is very difficult, yet they persevere. Sometimes their constant advocacy is the reminder that they are here and they are the voice of their children so I commend them on their significant work.

When you are out in Dublin South Central, it brings you into touch with mothers in communities like Cherry Orchard and Ballyfermot who are fantastic advocates for their children and who stand up against a tiny element with criminal intent that is happy to groom their children into criminality. Those mothers stand in the way of that. They work several jobs to ensure they have the jackets, shoes and boots - everything their children need - so they will not be seduced into crime. These women are extraordinary. I will not name them because many of them like to remain anonymous but there are extraordinary mothers in our communities doing extraordinary work all the time.

This brings to me to a woman called Alesya and her daughter Lada. I met Alesya on Monday. I am godparent to her husband Kim, who is a political prisoner in Belarus. Senator Joe O'Reilly is godfather to Kim's brother. Both brothers were living very normal lives in Belarus but happened to go out and protest - as we are free to do here, thankfully. They have been sentenced to extraordinary terms in prison. Alesya is Ukrainian and married to a Belarusian with a Belarusian child. They had to flee Belarus because of the intimidation and fear for their own family. They then had to flee Ukraine. We got great assistance in ensuring they came to Ireland and they now live in Cork. She advocates. Every time she speaks for her husband and every time she stands outside the Russian embassy protesting on behalf of Ukraine and with the women here, she runs the risk of his family being targeted in Belarus. We need to remember them. They brought to mind the fact that there are 191 women political prisoners in Belarus jailed for no other reason than that they hold politically diverse views in opposition to a very authoritarian regime. I want to remember them today. It is really important. The Minister began by noting the Ukrainian women. We have incredible privilege. We often go to bat here on different sides of the House over different issues but we are entitled to express those views freely when this is not the case in many other countries. I remember the great work of Alesya and the women who are political prisoners in Belarus.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I wish all my colleagues, the staff in Leinster House, all the people who support me and all the women in my life who made me the woman I am a very happy International Women's Day. I am thinking of my mother, my sister, my nieces, my best friends, my aunties and my grannies. We are all so lucky to have such people in our lives - well I am. I am completely biased about that because they are the women who stood with me, kicked me forward and told me to cop on and that I could do it. They also reined me in when I needed to be reined in. Most of us are really lucky to have one strong woman in our lives but I am very lucky to have a lot of strong women in my life.

When I was trying to think of what to say today, I struggled a bit when faced with the prospect of hoohahing about International Women's Day and saying "let's empower everyone." Some days I feel empowered, which is a contradiction in terms because I am a Member of this House so I should be empowered. Often as a woman, you feel let down. You think that it is relentless and that you are lost in the game. I left home this morning with one son sick and the other bawling crying because he did not want me to go to work or he did not want to go to school. You are pulled between all those things. You come up to Dublin and you are supposed to say "let's go; this is International Women's Day and it's fantastic" but some days it is not fantastic. We must all remember that not all days are fantastic for everybody. I think of all the women who are oblivious to this day. These are the women who are waking up today battered and bruised because of what happened last night, yesterday or the day before that. I am thinking of the women in direct provision who are sitting, are lost and are trying to rear their families. I am thinking of a woman who contacted me last week because she does not have a proper shower and proper running water for her family. It is all very relentless. We are all so privileged in this House to be standing here. I am thinking of carers. It is usually mammies and carers who appear every week before the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters. They talk about how difficult it is. Why is it difficult? It is not difficult because they are women. Being a woman is not difficult. It is glorious being a woman. The difficulty comes from the society we have created. We do not look after our carers. Young family carers visited here yesterday. There are just not enough supports for them. I am not here to give out. I am reflecting my bias and my exhaustion. We have so much to be positive about but so much pulls us back. We are waiting for so much legislation. We are waiting for legislation on non-fatal strangulation and stalking and for tougher sentences. We are waiting on a register for domestic violence. It seems that we are waiting for so much when we do not have to wait for other things.

We had a very bizarre conversation last week at a meeting in the AV room on rare diseases. A very impressive lady from Crumlin spoke about how she has been waiting for room on the server in the HSE to upload the data for her patients because mothers are coming to her about their children who have rare diseases and they are waiting. We genetically test all our cows in this country. Teagasc has a great lab. During Covid, the Teagasc labs were used for humans but we wait for mammies to be able to get tested and to be able to test their children.We are waiting; we are constantly waiting.

I know the Minister is an incredible advocate for equity and equality for all but sometimes we are just fed up waiting. Today I am reflecting my melancholy in my speech because we are constantly waiting. We are supposed to be very happy, confident and empowered today but I am not, even though we got fantastic news yesterday. As someone who suffered from endometriosis, I was pleased to hear that sufferers will be supported in endometriosis clinics. There will also be lots of menopause clinics but we must be serious about change. We will have the referendum but I am afraid to say to all our male leaders that it will not change a thing. We will have leaders coming out and saying that it is terrible that women have been treated unequally and not respected for so long but a referendum will not change that. It is about policy and attitude and I just do not want to be waiting any longer.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Myself and the Minister have just left Tallaght, where we were in the company of the formidable Muslim Sisters of Éire, a fantastic group of women who are getting on with the business of plugging the gaps in society. I used the opportunity to talk to them about Dr. Kathleen Lynn and about how she is my inspiration because rather than just complaining or looking on, aghast, at what needed to happen in society to address poverty, she got on and did it. The Muslim Sisters of Éire are very similar. Every Friday night, no matter the weather or the occasion, they are out there delivering warm meals and sanitary and hygiene products to anybody who comes along, no questions asked and no judgments passed.

The conversation moved on to gender-based violence and we heard powerful testimony from one of the women about her own experience of such violence. I too have my own experience of gender-based violence and it struck me that what we are seeing lately is the far right trying to exploit gender-based violence. It is straight out of their playbook and should not surprise us because they always want to try to divide. They always want us looking in the opposite direction to where the risk really lies. We all know, or at least those of us who are honest know, that gender-based violence does not recognise religion, class, or race. We also know that the far right could not care less about women's safety.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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Hear, hear.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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They never have and they never will. They are just using it as another wedge issue to exploit and divide. I have spent many years on protests and campaigns, including campaigning for change within my own party with regard to reproductive rights and campaigning in the referendum but I do not remember meeting any of those individuals who are active on social media now. I do not remember them ever standing shoulder to shoulder with the women, demanding that we got equality or access to healthcare. They were not there because, as we know full well, if they had their way and if they succeeded in what they want to see for our society, they would have us still chained to the kitchen sink. I look forward with enthusiasm to the referendum about women's place in the home but it will be interesting to see what side they will take. We know that the far right would continue to lock up women for not conforming to their patriarchal view of how women should behave. They would have no problem in forcing us to carry unwanted pregnancies, even in the case of rape. They would have no problem with that because that is their track record. That is the side they have taken every time. The far right have no problem with criticising what we wear. They criticise the hijab, they criticise women if they do not wear enough clothes or if they wear too many clothes. Now they also want us to fear our transgender sisters. My message is that we need to resist the fearmongering. We are stronger together. Feminists know that, including the male feminists in our lives. We need to stand together and remember that we will not achieve anything if we divide. That is what the far right want to see us do.

The issues of climate justice and climate change are also related to women's rights and justice. As we know, it is women who are more likely to be impacted by climate change across the world. Women will become migrants due to climate change. In low- and middle-income countries, women are more likely to work in agriculture and are more likely to have to work harder to secure an income and resources for their families. Girls are also more likely to have to leave school to help their mothers with the increased burden of work. Additionally, we know that climate change is driving a lot of the conflicts across the world. While we are all focused on Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, and that war is absolutely abhorrent, other conflicts are happening around the world and some of them are driven by climate change and the resultant competition for resources. It is time to accept that climate change is real and that we must consider its effects in our future policies. We must recognise that climate change is going to increase migration, exacerbate gender inequality and lead to more gender-based violence because of the conflicts that result from it. It is something that we need to be very conscious of and active on.

My main message for today, and I have steered well off the topic of innovation and technology, is one that should be echoed every year on International Women's Day. This day should be about the sisterhood and about us coming together and not allowing those who seek to divide us, to sow fear and pitch us against one another to succeed. We must come together and stand united because it is only through being united that we will effect the change that will make life better for all of the women in society.

Annie Hoey (Labour)
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It is great to be able stand here as a feminist on International Women's Day and while I do not know if I will be able to top my #girlboss talk last year, it will live fondly on in my memories. International Women's Day has almost become International Women's Day week and could become a month at some point. This is my fourth event of the day and by the end of the day, I will have clocked up 11 events. It is probably the busiest day for any woman involved in anything, ever. Perhaps we should start a petition for International Women's Day to involve a lie-in.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Annie Hoey (Labour)
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Some lunch would be nice as well. I just jogged across the campus, shovelling a falafel into my mouth, in shoes that are too tight, which seems very International Women's Day to me.

Joking aside, it is an important day. I was at an event earlier organised by the Irish Second-level Students Union, ISSU. We had a great discussion on the highs and lows of the women's movement, the intersectionality movement and other progressive movements. On the one hand, we had an incredible day in Leinster House on Monday last, when more women than had ever been there in the history of the State were in the Dáil Chamber. It was not just women of one particular ilk or look. There were women from every walk of life, including women who had grown up in care, Muslim women in hijabs, women from migrant communities, women who had moved here from abroad, and Traveller women. It was an incredible moment to be there, as part of International Women's Day week, to see what the future could look like in terms of representation. I would love to have a future where every woman in that room was a political representative because they were so brilliant, enthused and supportive. It was such a warm space to be in. Today we also had the announcement of a referendum to take references to women's role in the home out of the Constitution. However, on the other hand, we had the decision not to extend the eviction ban. I cannot get an image out of my head today. We are going to remove the reference to women in the home from the Constitution but I am thinking of the women and children who may be evicted from their homes - it is always women and children who are affected first - because the eviction ban is not being extended.

When I was talking to the young people who are members of ISSU, I told them that we can find ourselves having these big celebrations and big moments, and this referendum will be significant because that phrase needs to be gone from the Constitution.We cannot then look around us and not be aware of other happenings in the political realm and the impact they have. I find it hard to marry together the image of taking out of the Constitution the reference to taking women out of the home, but potentially seeing women losing their homes together with their children because of the eviction ban being lifted.

I will turn to some current international matters. Many conversations are happening on International Women’s Day and the global impact it has. We need only to look at the US where we recently saw the Roe v. Wade case and its impact throughout the US. That also impacts globally on women’s access to reproductive healthcare. It had a knock-on impact on funding coming out of the US and also in many places a row-back on women’s health. In such states as Texas a doctor can be charged with a first- or second-degree felony for acting out a medical procedure. It is a sad indictment that women’s health is no longer protected in the US constitution.

To continue looking over at the US, we see a swathe not only of anti-transgender legislation but also anti-LGBT legislation. There are murmurings about marriage equality and what that is going to look like in the US. Already Bills have been passed in Houses of Congress in the US banning people from living as they are, banning drag performances and people who look the way they are. I am worried what the end point of that will be. It seems that every single hard-fought-for and hard-won right can be turned over in a click of the fingers. When on International Women’s Day we look over here and celebrate, lifting up the women in our lives, there seems a weariness that there are people constantly coming up with ways to try to undo the progress made.

I will take a moment to reflect on Iran. Towards the end of 2022 people took to the streets and took off their hijabs in solidarity with all women with Iran. The protests were sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Masha Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the morality police for not abiding by the rule of wearing the hijab. It is hard to believe we are saying such a thing as “morality police”. During the protests, both journalists and civilians have been killed. At least 66 died in one protest on 30 September. When discussing International Women’s Day I could spend all day looking at the global perspective, never mind what is going on here. It is important to acknowledge, particularly in Iran, the group of people rising up who are simply looking for a democratic state. We as the international community have a role and responsibility towards that. Whatever we can do in regard to raising up not only the women’s voices here in Ireland, or in the US because they are being attacked left, right and centre on reproductive, gender-based or orientation-based rights, but also the women in Iran who are suffering at the moment and those allies who stand with them.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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Before I introduce our next speaker, I wish to acknowledge the presence in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery of the ambassador of New Zealand, Trevor Mallard, who is very welcome. On a day like to today we are thinking about other trailblazers and female politicians. We have, of course, Jacinda Ardern, who is moving on. Of particular interest is her policy in regard to well being budgets and such initiatives, which we have discussed in this Chamber. Hopefully, we will see the ambassador more around the building and we look forward to getting to know him. I now call Senator Eileen Flynn.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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International Women’s Day is not only a day of celebration but a day of action. If we are going to celebrate International Women’s Day it has to be a meaningful day for all women in Irish society. That means breaking down barriers that keep women from reaching their full potential in society. During my work as an activist I was taught to walk into a room or a building and ask the question, “Who is not here?” My question today is “Who is not here?” Obviously the male Senators are not here in solidarity for the discussion and also women of colour are not here, migrant women are not here, women who are wheelchair users are not here. Other women are not here. I am here. I am one, by myself, from an ethnic minority group. Maybe we should think about that today. We need women in here who have lived experience. I am privileged to be here, as a person, not only as a woman but as a mother and a member of the Traveller community. I am absolutely privileged to have a seat in our Oireachtas. On Monday, we had Women for Election which comprised diverse women. I have never seen anything like it. It was emotional to be there and listen to the women, young women, women from different walks of life. I will not say all walks of life but different walks of life. Helene Power of the Irish Traveller Movement spoke and said that if we want a political system that is devoted to inclusion and diversity, we should remove the structural obstacles that are put in the way of women from minority groups. We need brown and black women in these Houses, women who are disabled, all women. We have the power as legislators to make that happen.

I want to credit my colleague, Senator Alice-Mary Higgins, and all the women who sat on the Joint Committee on Gender Equality. It has 45 recommendations that include recommendations on education, health, public service, care, social protection, domestic and gender-based violence, pay and employment and achieving gender equality in leadership, politics and public life and in the workplace. I support all these recommendations. However, after two-and-a-half years of sitting around tables I am sick to the teeth. I am actually exhausted and it was said here today, as a woman. We have to look at the intersection of inclusivity. As a woman from the Traveller community, I was so full of passion when I first came in, saying “Actually, we can make changes”. Since I have been here in the past two-and-a-half years there were very few changes for women, and even fewer changes for women of colour who do not get spaces around these tables. They do not get the opportunities to sit around them. If we want these women here, we must remember “nothing about us without us”. Too often it is about them but it is without them. How can we live in such a society and celebrate International Women’s Day when we are leaving thousands of women in our society behind? As I said here when I first came into these Houses, our political system is not made up of the rich diversity that now exists within our country.

Take for example post-natal depression services and care services for people. While there are great professionals looking after women who go through post-natal depression, we do not have a specific unit in a hospital. There is in the UK. It can bring in women for six weeks or months, for however long they need the support to get through the post-natal depression. Today I cannot help thinking about Vicky Phelan. When it comes to the health crisis for women in Irish society that is very much the case today, especially for women on the edges of society, especially Traveller women. As a woman who has gone through all of the cervical checks and still has to go through more underlying issues myself, I know that we do not have a good health service in this country for women. We bring in free sanitary towels and period products. That is charity. We need to provide good services for women from all walks of life.

We talk about gender quotas of 30% or 40%. Women make up 50% of the Irish population. How come we are only getting 30% or 40% of a quota? Where are we around the boards of management in Irish society, or the councils or in the Houses of the Oireachtas?The quota is now 40%. We are treated as 40% and the rest goes to men, while we make up 50% of the population. We really have to look at those questions and we have to answer them. If we say equality we have to mean equality. The Joint Committee on Gender Equality made great recommendations and we have to follow through on those. Somebody has to be held to account. We cannot just be sitting around coming up with the solutions. We do not have to create the wheel. We already have the answers; it is about implementation.

I take this opportunity to thank Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black. We are the only group in the Oireachtas that is all women. I also thank the women who work in the Civil Engagement Group as part of our team. There is another woman who comes to mind today. Dr. Hannagh McGinley is a Traveller woman and activist who has gone above and beyond. She is a single mother. Her whole life, she has been fighting for Traveller rights and I want to acknowledge her today. She was a big part of bringing forward the Traveller history and education Bill for the Traveller community.

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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It is great to be able to speak on International Women's Day and to be here with so many colleagues. It would be nice to have more colleagues in the room, not just the female Senators, but it is great that we are all here together.

I want to focus my comments on Afghanistan and Iran. While today is a very happy International Women's Day for all of us, I am keenly aware of and grateful for the huge freedoms I have as a woman in Ireland, in a first-world country where we aspire to full equality. We may not always get there but we are doing pretty well in lots of areas.

Afghanistan under the Taliban's rule remains one of the most repressive countries when it comes to women's rights. Girls and women can no longer access education in that country. It is worth pausing for a moment to think about the implications of that today and into the future. In Iran, the protests against the regime, its forced hijab rules and the general oppression of women's rights across the country continue. Mahsa Amini's name was mentioned here today and I have mentioned her previously. She lost her life when she was imprisoned and was never released. Many women and men have lost their lives during the protests in Iran. Mass poisonings have now taken place on school students, with many believing that these are deliberate attacks. It is just horrific and an abomination, flowing from what is happening in Iran. Ireland and the EU need to get louder about what is happening in Iran and Afghanistan and continue to highlight the horrific abuses of human rights against women in those countries.

While we are standing in a position of privilege today it is worth remembering, as others have mentioned, those who are in marginalised communities, such as migrant women and those who are not at the table, as Senator Flynn pointed out. We need to continue to fight for their rights to achieve what we have managed to achieve in this country.

I also want to focus on some of the achievements we have made in Ireland in progressing some key women's issues. We continue to work towards some of the unfinished business around domestic violence, and violence against women and lone parents, who are predominantly female and at greater risk of poverty. Those performing caring roles, in the caring professions and those caring at home, are predominantly women. There is also the massive gender inequality we still face in the gender pay gap and women's representation across all sectors of society, whether it is in our Parliament, on boards or in senior management positions.

We have what is often termed an unfinished democracy and an unfinished society because we have not achieved that equality. While we have lots of good stories to tell and lots of positive comments to make, it is worth reminding ourselves that there is still a way to go in terms of achieving full equality for the women and girls of Ireland and the women and girls of the world. We are in a privileged position in this House to be able to platform these issues and, more importantly, to effect change and make those changes happen. I agree with the comments of Senator Boylan when she said today is about celebrating the sisterhood and that by working together and being a collective voice, we are more powerful as a unit and as one than we are individually.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for coming in to discuss this all-important topic. I acknowledge the presence of the ambassador, H.E. Trevor Mallard. He is very welcome. To carry on from what Senator Doherty said, the theme of today is embracing equity. She referred to the fact that not everybody starts in the same place. We are very privileged to be here in Seanad Éireann and that we can come in that door every single day but there are so many people from different backgrounds, as has been said by Senator Flynn, and others. It is about embracing those people. Some people have a higher profile but there are people like our mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, friends and family. We need to embrace them and make sure we all stick together to have a stronger society. Today is about celebrating women's rights and bringing attention to issues such as gender equality and the social, economic, cultural and political advancement of women. I firmly believe that.

The announcement today of the referendum in November is very positive news. In his speech, the Minister referred to building on the framework that was in the women and girls document and said he was going to review that and do some work on it. This is a very welcome announcement.

I refer to women in sport. It was absolutely fantastic when the women's football team qualified to go to the World Cup in Australia but some people dismissed it and said "Oh, sure that is the women's team". We need to get past that. Women have the same rights as men. Whether they are playing on a women's team, a mixed team or a men's team, we should all be supporting the Irish team.

Regarding women in politics, we are all privileged to be involved in politics. We are all privileged to be here. While the numbers are very strong here in the Seanad, they are quite low in the Dáil. We need to look at what the issues are and what is stopping women from going into politics. There are quotas, especially within the parties, to encourage participation but many women are afraid to put their heads above the parapet because of the abuse and comments they get.I mean no offence to the gentlemen in the room, but I believe that females get a higher percentage of comments and derogatory remarks. Everybody should be equal, which means embracing equity so that we all have the same rights and the opportunity to have our say. Some supports need to be put in place in that whole area to encourage female participation. We have the different organisations the Government funds to encourage women to participate but if we do not put in place the proper supports and legislation to protect women, we will not have enough females coming forward. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for coming to the House.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I wish everyone a happy International Women's Day. My apologies to the Minister but I too have fitted a lot into my morning in Dublin West. I was in the company of brilliant community activists, including people from Phoenix FM, the Huntstown Community Centre and Castleknock Tidy Towns. While reference has been made to International Women's Day and the progress we have made, it does not take long before the focus shifts to the actions that are outstanding.

It is such a privilege to be in this building. I feel that every single day I walk through its doors. I shared this morning how I often put up Post-it notes in my office detailing meetings I have had with women on the doorstep or at public meetings when talking about certain issues. When I come in here I try to remember that it is not just me talking to the Minister directly because I am trying to remember what these women have told me and how I felt when I was talking to them. This morning, I am remembering the women we meet on the doorsteps who are at the end of their tether and do not always have the knowledge or time to engage with public representatives. They might send an email, which Members will see coming in late at night. The great thing about being in our job is the ability to knock on doors at the right time and hear from people about the pressures they are under. I am thinking in particular about the mothers who fight for their kids when it comes to special education and disability. It was great to hold a meeting of the Joint Committee on Autism in the Chamber last week and to give the organisations involved in this issue a platform. It was really hard to listen to some of their stories. I also recognise the groups I work with in Dublin 15, including autism groups and mums who are campaigning for disability services.

Carer's allowance is another issue I will raise. I got into politics because I dropped out of the workforce. So many women leave their jobs because of the work they have at home looking after children with complex needs. These women may not be able to access carer's allowance. We are aware of the huge amount of money it costs to get private assessments, advice, treatments and services. It seems very unfair that women who may have left well-paid jobs to do such a great job looking after their children are completely cut off economically. We should focus on that issue going forward.

The work we have done collectively on childcare is making a difference for people. I know, however, that the direction of travel must be to increase the supports available and address the lack of baby rooms and supports for younger children.

I acknowledge the hugely positive work the Minister has done on the gender pay gap, which will only deliver over time. There is also the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022. We have seen a 3% increase in people who are working full time. That is the power of women working full-time and having more options and choice when it comes to working.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. I pay tribute to the women who were in the negotiating rooms around the Good Friday Agreement. I have heard a lot from the Women's Coalition over the past few months, including from Monica McWilliams and Bronagh Hinds. Within six weeks of being formed, the Women's Coalition ran for election and had female representatives in the Assembly. They changed the dynamic of the talks. They were disrupters and challengers. As well as the Women's Coalition, we also had women like Bríd Rodgers, who was also a Member of the Seanad. We must remember the impact they made in achieving lasting stability and peace. They have set so many other women up to run for election in the North and build on that progress. It is, however, unfinished work but I want to focus on the optimism. Those women really encourage us to get into politics. I hope that in another 25 years we will be able to look back and see even more great women coming through.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I thank Senator Currie. I am not sure if Members are aware but at 2 p.m., a bust of two great women who have made major contributions to politics in this country will be unveiled in the main hall. The Minister may need to attend, and I am sure all Members would like to be present. I ask the remaining speakers to keep their contributions to a little less than six minutes.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I will be brief.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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That would be fantastic. It may be possible for all of us to attend. Is that okay with the Minister and Senators?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Yes.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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That is agreed.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber. It is very important, in celebrating the progress made by women for women in this country, that we also acknowledge the Minister's role in that. I will comment on some of that progress shortly. Just as important, we need to reflect on the enormous challenges women in this country have been facing for a long time. Thousands of women are trapped in low-paid employment, usually part-time work. The State can help to address that. There are women who have had to cut back their hours of work or leave their jobs because the State has simply failed to ensure an adequate supply of childcare places or care for the elderly. The Minister's Department is crucial in all of that.

There are mothers and young children in rental accommodation who are living the nightmare of the country's housing shortage while others are facing shocking delays in accessing healthcare and therapies. Every week, right across this Chamber, I and other Senators deal with mothers who come to us with issues because they cannot access home care support, assistive technologies and the vital therapies they need for their children.

While the announcement today that a referendum will be held later this year is very welcome, I would like a clear date for it. The announcement comes on the back of long campaigning by the National Women's Council of Ireland and the work of my colleague, Deputy Ivana Bacik, and the Joint Committee on Gender Equality. We should not sugar-coat this referendum. The announcement was made in a week in which we were made aware that the eviction ban will be lifted over the next three months.We know that the impact of that will be devastating and people have nowhere to go. I am sure it is the same in Dublin 15 as it is in Dublin 7, 1, 3 and 9 in terms of the lack of places to rent and how housing assistance payment, HAP, is simply insufficient for people to put affordable, sustainable roofs over their head.

In the time that I have, I want to touch on the progress that has been made. It is important to acknowledge that. We now have the Gender Pay Gap Information Act, which is fantastic, and it is a credit to the Minister for bringing it through the Oireachtas. However, we have to recognise that this is the start and not the finish of the work to close the gender pay gap in this country.

While people talk about the hourly gender pay gap, at the end of the day, who ever thinks about the hourly rate of pay? Very few people do. They think about their weekly or monthly rate of pay. The gender pay gap in this country is 22.2% when comparing, on average, what men earn relative to the average of what women earn. That is extrapolated from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, administrative earnings data. That is based on both hours and the hourly rate.

There is an important point to be made when looking at the good employment figures seen over the past year. Employment has grown by almost 160,000 people and it is almost half and half between men and women but yet, 90% of the male employment growth is in full-time work, while only 60% of female employment is in full-time work. Almost 40% of that female employment is in part-time work. Some of it is voluntary but some of it is not. That is where the State has a role to play in ensuring that those who want to take up work and earn a full weeks’ wage can do so.

I acknowledge there has been great progress with regard to the national childcare scheme. However, what is the point in having a subsidy if we do not have the places? The Minister knows this. We have had news in the past week that between June last year and June this year, we will have lost 105 preschool places in Stoneybatter alone. That is preschool; it is not necessarily touching on the other issues of crèche. However, there is an enormous issue, particularly in inner city Dublin, of a lack of appropriate crèche and preschool places and the problem is getting increasingly worse. Often, it is not for want of money. Even commercial providers are telling me that it is not for want of money. It is just that they cannot find appropriate places. I looked at the likes of Hardwicke Street, where the crèche operated by the Lourdes Youth and Community Services is located. Over the door it says "Irish structural funds and Irish Government funding". There was a time when the Irish Government built crèches and childcare facilities. We need to get back into that if we are to address the childcare shortage issues.

Second, on the gender pay gap, if we are to seriously tackle that gender pay gap, we have to ensure that we have a robust and strong commitment to collective bargaining and a recognition of the right to collective bargaining in this country. There will hopefully be some progress on that this year. It is not yet clear what exactly the Government will do in that space. However, we have to be clear that there is an issue with regard to pay progression upon promotion for women in this country. There are poor outcomes when women negotiate on their own relative to when they negotiate collectively. We know that from the research. In addition, there is the issue of very high of numbers of women in part-time work relative to full-time work. That is not covered-----

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The Senator is over time now.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I understand. The six minutes-----

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The six minutes are gone.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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Okay. Tá brón orm. The point is that in the Gender Pay Gap Information Act - this is the amendment that we would like to see happen over the next year - we do not have comparison between full-time and part-time pay. Unless we have that, we will not make further progress in closing that gap over the coming period.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I call on the Minister to make a response.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am happy if, in order to facilitate Senator-----

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I think Senator Seery Kearney would like to hear the Minister's response.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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Yes. I am speaking at a conference at 3 p.m. so I cannot break to go back. However, I am happy to relieve the Acting Chair if she want to go.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The Minister can go ahead. We want to hear his response.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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There is no one else for the Government bench.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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No, that is fine.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I appreciate if the Acting Chair needs to go.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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No, that is fine. It is a pity other Members did not stay around for the Minister's response, but that is the way it is.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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That is not a problem. I thank the Acting Chair and the Members for their contributions and for reflecting the progress that has been made, the challenges that remain and the frustration about those challenges. I recognise there is frustration regarding the slow pace of reform in certain areas. I share that same level of frustration too.

I had the privilege to represent Ireland at the UN Commission on the Status of Women over the past two days in New York. The key theme of this year’s conference was technology-facilitated gender-based violence and recognising the huge world that has been opened to everyone by the online space, particularly to women, and minority and vulnerable women. The online space opens everybody to a whole new range of avenues of attack. It opens female politicians and female leaders to that avenue of attack as well. We talked about those in the context of the developing world. Ireland hosted a good side meeting where an MP from Tanzania spoke about the sustained, personalised and sexualised attacks that she had faced. A colleague from the Belgian Government, the state secretary Sarah Schlitz, spoke about similar experiences she has encountered as well. I am sure every Senator and every female Senator in this House can speak to the comments, from derogatory to deeply vicious and deeply violent comments they have no doubt received on social media.

We are all are in politics and have to be ready to receive robust criticism. However, what female politicians are encountering these days goes far beyond the bounds of any sort of acceptability. At a time when we are one year and about three months from the local elections, no doubt all of us are looking to encourage people to sign up locally to run as candidates or supporting candidates we have already identified in their first steps. That is such an issue that people raise. We hear, for example, “I am not willing to see all these things said about me” or “I feel I need to go on Twitter to be part of politics but I do not want to get that constant barrage incoming.” I will not go into all of the legislative points raised but it is a major issue as a society. It is not just Ireland, but as a society, the quality of online debate is something we have to talk about. We are losing too many good people from politics and from other areas of life as well.

At the Commission on the Status of Women, I had the privilege to meet the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan yesterday for a lunch hosted by the Irish Consulate. The Irish Consulate has been highly supportive. During on our time on the Security Council, we were intensively supportive of Afghanistan. In particular, we fought to maintain sanctions against Taliban regime leaders when there was an effort to perhaps let those sanctions fall away. Ireland led and the Afghan women’s forum recognised that. To hear the manner in which women are being erased from public life in Afghanistan – no education, no facility to work, no facility to work with NGOs – is alarming. In the context of LGBT+ rights, I have spoken about the fear there must be to live in your country and see your rights being eroded away. Women in Afghanistan and Iran are seeing that. We are seeing that now in international protection applications from both of those countries. They are rising quite considerably as people flee them because of the threats, violence and the diminishment of their personhood that we are seeing in those countries.

It was interesting because you are exposed to what Ireland is doing on an international scene. I met the equality minister for Sierra Leone. I actually met her last year at the Commission on the Status of Women as well. Last year, she was talking about legislation she was bringing forward to mandate gender quotas in the Sierra Leone Parliament. She talked about how it was going to be a big fight. She got it passed in January, so that will apply for their next general election. She spoke about the support from the Irish Embassy. We are one of the few countries that is represented at embassy level in Sierra Leone. She said the ambassador was absolutely essential in helping with additional pressure to get that legislation passed. Her next big campaign now is outlawing female genital mutilation, FGM.That is an issue of fundamental importance to the most basic rights of women and girls.

I hosted an event where the Irish representative at the UN had again provided seed funding to Jordan and Palestine to undertake research on the cost of domestic violence in both those countries. We maybe sometimes miss out on the great the work that is being done by Ireland and that is being led by our Department of Foreign Affairs on a very individualised basis. It can often be a small amount of money, or it can be those individual engagements that promote equality in many forms, but particularly gender equality across the world. I wanted to take the opportunity to put it on the record of the House my real admiration for the work that is being done, as well as the real recognition of the work that Ireland does, whether it is done by the Government or NGOs.

I was very pleased to be able to join the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, today in the context of announcing a timeline for referenda. We are hoping it will be in November. That is the plan, and we just need to solidify a clear date. However, there is a timeline for an interdepartmental group to hopefully bring forward wording in May, to get that agreed on by June and then that will run into a referendum process. The removal of the wording on women's place in the home is symbolic, absolutely. However, there are other things that group is talking about that are not symbolic, such as the definition of the family and whether we broaden it beyond the marital family. That is really important. For me, when I was campaigning on marriage equality, my fundamental argument was that my relationship, if I got married, would never be recognised under the Constitution. As a lawyer, that is important to me. While that is something I can access now, there are plenty of incredibly solid families where people are unmarried. They may be headed by lone parents, by grandparents or by other people. We need to really consider that broadening of the definition, as well as looking at issues of discrimination and looking at having our Constitution as having an explicitly non-discriminatory element to it. I think that is something well worth considering.

By working on building on the fantastic work that has been done by the Oireachtas committee and particularly by the citizens' assembly, I hope we will be able to bring a wording together that can get broad, cross-party and non-party support, as well as support across the wider civil society. We know these referenda are not a slam dunk. We know that from the children's rights referendum. We therefore need to work closely over the next couple of months and I look forward to my Department playing a key role in that. I thank the Acting Chair and I wish everybody a happy International Women's Day.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister.