Ireland will vote on replacing women’s language in the constitution
Over the past eighty years, Ireland’s constitution has included language defining women’s roles in the family, which equality advocates have long seen as a relic of a patriarchal past. The Irish public will on Friday voting on proposals to change that language and broaden the definition of what constitutes a family.
The vote coincides with International Women’s Day and could mark another milestone in a few decades in which Ireland has reformed its constitution in ways that reflect the country’s more secular and liberal modern identity.
If passed, the amendments would provide the latest updates to the Constitution, a document originally written in line with the values of the Roman Catholic Church and ratified in 1937, when religion and social conservatism dominated society.
What exactly are the Irish public voting on?
Voters will be asked to think about this two separate questions.
The first questions whether the public is in favor of amending Article 41 of the Constitution to provide for a broader understanding of the family.
Currently, the Constitution states: “The State recognizes the family as the natural primary and fundamental unitary group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and inalienable rights, which are prior and superior to all positive laws.”
It adds: “The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it from attack.”
The new language would recognize a family, “whether based on marriage or other lasting relationships,” as the fundamental unit of society. The words “on which the family is founded” would be removed from the clause on the responsibility of the state for safeguarding the institution of marriage.
The second question concerns Article 41.2 of the Constitution, which currently states that the state “recognizes that woman, through her life within the family, provides the state with a support without which the common good cannot be achieved” and that the state “shall endeavor to ensure that mothers are not forced into labor by economic necessity, thus neglecting their duties in the family.”
If voters voted in favor, the reference to women’s role in the family would be removed. A new section, 42B, would recognize and protect all family caregivers, saying: “The State recognizes that the provision of care, by members of a family to each other, on the basis of the bonds existing between them, sustains society without compromising general welfare cannot be achieved, and will endeavor to support such a provision.”
The changes would be another sign of a changing country.
The Irish Constitution was written at a time when the influence of the Roman Catholic Church was enormous, and language reflecting the social teachings of the Church was woven into the national document. It defined women in terms of their roles as wives and mothers, and outlined their duties in the home.
The proposed changes would be another signal of Ireland’s move away from a conservative state rooted in Catholic values – especially when it comes to the role of women. That transformation happened quickly. In the early 1990s, divorce and same-sex marriage were illegal and abortion was banned in almost all cases.
In 1995, Ireland voted to end the divorce ban, while a later referendum in 2019 further liberalized divorce laws. In 2015, the country voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and in 2018 to repeal the amendment banning abortion.
What do those who support the proposals say?
Recent polls by The Irish Times have done just that indicated that a majority of voters intends to adopt both proposals. Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, a charity that promotes women’s rights and equality, said in a statement that the changes were an “opportunity to remove sexist language and restrictions on women from our Constitution.”
Voting in favor, she said, “will be a big step away from this dark past and a small step toward recognizing the importance of care and the caring roles of both women and men.”
She added: “We encourage all voters to really think: do we want our young women and girls to grow up in an Ireland where the Constitution still tells them that their primary place, and indeed their ‘life’, is home ?” And that they have ‘duties’ and the boys and men do not?”
Mary McAleese, a former president of Ireland, has campaigned in favor of the proposals. She said she believed the changes “will reflect the overwhelming push for equality and inclusivity that is a hallmark of modern Ireland.”
All the country’s major political parties have also called on voters to approve the revision. Leo Varadkar, the Prime Minister of Ireland, speaking to reporters during his campaign in Dublin this week, called on the public to vote in favor of both proposals.
“If the vote is yes, we are saying as a society that all families are equal and that the marital status of the parents should not affect that,” he said, referring to the family question. Turning to the second question, about the role of women, he added: “If there is a no vote, we will have very outdated language in our Constitution that will remain there for the foreseeable future. I would find that very unfortunate.”
What about the opponents?
Catholic Bishops in Ireland issued a statement last month They said they believed the proposed change to the family clause would “lead to a weakening of the incentive for young people to marry.”
They also expressed concern about removing the clause on women, saying: “It would have the effect of abolishing all references to motherhood in the Constitution and would undermine the special and incalculable social contribution that mothers have made and continue to make in the home , are not taken into account. in Ireland.”
Other critics have argued that the proposed language changes do not go far enough, especially in health care provider provisions, while some have said the new language is problematic. Free Legal Advice Centres, an independent human rights and equality body, said in a statement that she supported the change in the first question, the definition of family, but rejected the wording in the second question, on caregivers.
The proposed wording, intended to replace the reference to women’s duties in the home, ‘endorses a status quo in which women undertake the bulk of unpaid care work and does not impose any obligation on the state to address this gender inequality to restore – making it an implicitly sexist amendment. the group said.
However, Mr Varadkar said those who criticized the measures for not going far enough were missing the point.
“I would very much see these referendums as further progress towards modernizing our constitution, and as a step change in the right direction,” he said.