Equality: ‘We cannot even wait an hour’

Two Cork campaigners joined President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin recently for an event promoting the engagement of men in gender equality issues.

Molly Sterling and Ronan Conway recently made the trip where they lent their voices to the UN’s HeforShe campaign. The campaign, for which President Higgins is a global ambassador, carries the message that it’s crucial for men to stand in solidarity with women if women’s rights are to be fully achieved.

At the event, President Higgins called on people around the world to stand together as equal partners to craft a shared vision of a gender equal world, and to specifically undertake the challenge of engaging men and boys to promote gender equality, and to combat gender based violence.

Ms Sterling is a well-known Cork-based musician and founder of The Reclaim Project, a community space for women and gender minorities who experienced abuse in the arts. Mr Conway, a Bishopstown native, has represented club and county in hurling from underage to senior level, and now delivers personal and group development programs.

Ms Sterling said it was great to hear the president show leadership in an area she is passionate about: “The president reminded us of the urgent response needed to gender based violence in Irish society. He called on society to not just be passive in our agreement that ‘yes, we are all interconnected’ but to create action and urgent response to the issue of gender based violence in all forms, affecting the lives and safety of all genders.”

Mr Conway said it was inspiring to hear President Higgins calling for widespread gender equality: “He reminded us that we cannot even wait an hour, we must make a change in this moment. For me, this starts with us men. I’ve had the privilege of working with a diverse spread of men, from teenagers to elite athletes, CEOs, and most recently, prison inmates. In the workshops, courageous conversations unfold where lads interact on a range of emotionally charged, life-related topics. There is a narrative that men ‘don’t like to talk’. This sentiment is due for an update. I have witnessed countless times that when the conditions are right, men will speak at length and with gravity.”