Noreen Byrne: Has anything changed?

Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2014

That National Women’s Council of Ireland finally have a feminist home of their own in Dublin is very gratifying. This was an objective set by the Board led by myself and Grainne Healy way back in the nineties, and it is a huge achievement,  even more so in the time of great economic difficulties which,  as we all know has led to major cuts in funding for civil society organisations. This, coupled with a political environment in which many of us are convinced policy makers do not want to hear about the issues affecting women, deserves even more praise.

We hear a lot in public discourse that women have made it in the 21st century. There is no longer any need for feminists and feminism or we hear calls for a different type of feminism. The kind that allows men to continue to buy sex, the kind that accepts that is ok for fathers to walk away from their responsibilities to their children when their relationships end, the kind that accepts that it is women’s lot to live their lives in poverty and dependency.

Well, I prefer the old fashioned (in inverted commas) type of feminism. One which is based on the principles of social justice, equality for all and the acceptance of diversity. This kind of feminism is about a new society in which all citizens irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity etc have their human rights and responsibilities respected in law and in practice.

I am very struck that the issues the Council is currently working on are almost exactly the same as those in the 90s. Yes, women are more visible in the media, but it’s mainly about image and style, ensuring young women in particular get on the galloping train of consumerism, nothing about the substance of women’s lives. Women living in poverty are almost totally invisible and when they become visible, the images are almost exclusively negative. No change there then.

The need for the Council to continue its good work on women’s reproductive rights is as strong as ever. The case of Savita Halappanavar and others which emerged subsequently showed clearly that Ireland is far from the safest country in Europe for women to give birth (as the so called pro life people are fond of saying). The treatment of the women and indeed their partners in these particular cases made visible the dark underbelly of attitudes to women, even within the medical profession. Some would say it shows that we are second class citizens. But I think it is more than that, much more.

There are a few questions I have been asking myself in this regard. I worked in the Well Woman from 1980 to 85 and was heavily involved in the campaign against the constitutional amendment 40.3 on abortion. At the time we were spat at and verbally abused, amongst other things. It became very clear at that time that there were very few members of the Oireachtas willing to speak out against the Pro Life Campaign, in fact one sometimes felt that some TDs and Senators were queuing up to say there were against abortion. In the meantime thankfully, mainly because of the suffering of women – the X & C cases, the Savita Hallappanaver & others, attitudes have changed and recent polls have shown that the majority of the electorate agree with provision for the termination of pregnancy in cases of rape and of fatal foetal abnormality, the Government in the passing of the 2013 Protection of Life in Pregnancy Act failed to do this.

My questions here are,

Has anything changed – given that the Government did not listen to the majority on this issue?
Is it possible that the majority of members of the Oireachtas are unaffected by the plight of that young woman who was forced recently to give birth by C-section despite asking for help under the new Act?

And are they impervious to the suffering described by Dr Sam Coulter-Smith who said some women who,  having travelled the UK to terminate their pregnancies because of fatal foetal abnormality are returning home before the process is complete in order to avoid having to face the remains of their beloved child being sent home in a cardboard box?

Is the treatment of women seeking to terminate their pregnancies nowadays the 21st century equivalent of what happened in the past to single mothers sent away to England to have their babies and the forcibly adopted or indeed put into the Magdalen laundries?

It feels like the authoritarianism of the past has not gone from politics here in Ireland

We must work hard to take this amendment from the Constitution, otherwise women will continue to suffer at the hands of the State.

I do hold out some hope that if there a critical mass of women in the Oireachtas, things may change, I recall Minister you saying this over 20 years ago and the political parties are not there yet. I don’t have any answers here except to say that in my view the fact that female representation in the Oireachtas continue to be so low is simply a matter of resistance at the highest level in political parties.

The need for a national representative organisation for women in Ireland is stronger than ever. We must hold all Governments to account, irrespective of political hue.
The staff and Board of the NWCI are to be commended for its leadership and for all its good work on the issues affecting women, long may it continue.