UN committee calls for fresh Irish referendum on ‘women’s life within the home’

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) today published the concluding observations of its eighth periodic review of Ireland.

The report welcomes a number of positive developments since the previous review in 2017, including new legislation on stalking, domestic violence leave, gender pay gap reporting, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, domestic violence and abortion.

However, it also notes a number of continuing areas of concern, as well as expressing “regret” at the failure of last year’s so-called care referendum.

The committee has called on the government to conduct an “independent evaluation of the referendum” and to “carry out information campaigns on the negative reinforcement by Article 41.2 of gender stereotypes about women’s roles in the home”.

It goes on to say that the government should “undertake inclusive public consultations to find alternative wording with a view to holding another constitutional referendum on amending Article 41.2 of the Constitution to remove the stereotypical language on the role of women in the home”.

Beyond this, the committee has called for an expansion of access to civil legal aid, saying the existing rules create “systemic barriers to women’s access to justice”.

Welcoming the report, children, disability and equality minister Norma Foley said: “Ireland is firm in our commitment to international law and to multilateralism.

“We recognise the importance of having the UN treaty bodies, like CEDAW, hold states to account and greatly value the constructive engagement that takes place as result.

“We welcome the committee’s acknowledgment of the progress achieved in Ireland on gender equality since our previous CEDAW review in 2017 and acknowledge that more needs to be done.”