Referendum on gender equality due to take place
A referendum is due to be held in November on Article 41.2 of the Constitution which refers to a woman's "life within the home".
Details of the Government’s intention to hold the referendum were released yesterday, Wednesday, morning on International Women's Day.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman announced the Government’s intention to hold a referendum on gender equality as recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Special Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality.
An Taoiseach said: “For too long, women and girls have carried a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities, been discriminated against at home and in the workplace, objectified or lived in fear of domestic or gender-based violence. I am pleased to announce that the Government plans to hold a referendum this November to amend our Constitution to enshrine gender equality and to remove the outmoded reference to ‘women in the home’, in line with the recommendations of the Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality.”
Minister O’Gorman said: “I commend the Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality and the membership of the recent Special Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality for their work to advance these difficult and sensitive issues. My department will very shortly be convening an inter-departmental committee to develop policy recommendations for consideration by Government, with a view to agreement by Government of wording for the proposed referenda.”
Background
The Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality, in its final report to the Oireachtas in June 2021, made recommendations for amendments to Articles 40 and 41 of the Constitution.
These were:
• Article 40.1 of the Constitution should be amended to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination
• Article 41 of the Constitution should be amended so that it would protect family life, with the protection afforded to the family not limited to the marital family
• Article 41.2 of the Constitution should be deleted and replaced with language that is not gender specific and obliges the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community
A Special Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality was established and met from December 2021 to consider the Citizens Assembly recommendations together with the Government’s response.
This Committee concluded its work and published its final report on 21 December 2022.
In this report, the Committee set out its own recommendations and an action plan, including recommendations for a referendum or referendums on Articles 40 and 41 of the Constitution.