SPEECH AT ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CONSORTIUM ON GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Published: Wednesday, November 17, 2010

This is rife globally, in conflict and in peacetime, and it is rife in this country.

When I started working for the National Women's Council in May 2009, everyone was talking about the Equality for Women money. Groups were counting on it. They'd been encouraged to apply for what counts as major project funding in the women's sector, and some had applied for over €200,000. When do you think we'll hear, they kept asking?

They had been waiting for more than a year.

The EWM falls under the National Women's Strategy, and the Women's Council along with the ICTU and other social partners sits on the monitoring group for the NWS. This group meets twice a year at dates chosen by the government. The Women's Council, Congress and the other social partners have a pre meeting to discuss the issues we need to raise.

At the first meeting I attended, I was surprised by the apparent unwillingness of the government to divulge information. Questions about the EWM got what seemed to be evasive answers. When we pressed for details, we were told that several million euros had been lost to the NWS. It's the economy, we were told.

Without apology for the delay, the EWM letters were sent out. Most of those who had applied got nothing. About 30 were told that they were to receive grants of €30,000. They were instructed that none of the money was to be spent on childcare, transport, or tea.

With difficulty, we managed to establish that the government had in fact ransacked the budget of the NWS, handing over a further €10m of European Social Fund money to FAS with no requirement that any of it be used on training for women. We protested. The minister for equality wrung his hands - what could he do? We have to feed the prisoners and clothe the asylum seekers, he said.

Government cuts to child benefit, to community women's groups, to funding for services on violence against women all followed. To my mind, the escalation in demand noted by NWCI members providing frontline services for women experiencing sexual and domestic violence is one of the most disturbing aspects of this recession, yet it is rarely discussed publicly. Services are noting increases of around 40%, while their funds are being cut by about 5 to 10%.

Women continued to lose their jobs. Pregnancy discrimination emerged.

But in March this year, the Minister for equality went off to New York to speak at the Commission on the status of women event to mark the 15th anniversary of the Beijing platform. In an extraordinarily offensive speech, he declared himself very happy with the significant advances made towards gender equality in Ireland.

The NWS was, of course the governments response to the original Beijing platform in 1995. This called for national action plans to be drawn up. Ten years later, the UN's convention to eliminate discriminaton against women, CEDAW, pressed the government to act. Civil society was consulted during the drafting of the strategy, and we expressed concern that there was an evidence based approach to making policy was not being taken. There was a 'lack of specific time framed targets linked ot achieving gender equality outcomes.'

Never mind all that negativity...The plan was launched in 2007 and was declared by Bertie Ahern and Michael McDowell to be a 'shining light' for the world.

The NWCI welcomed it but pointed out that its budget was rather small - 0.01% of GDP and that it would be difficult to measure its effectiveness. No timeframes, no targets, actions not quantified, their expected outcome unclear, and sometimes not relevant to the indicators given.

We also warned that its budget was likely to come under pressure in a department - Justice - with high spending responsibilites. A year after the launch, the government cut its budget in half. There was a 20% cut in funds to COSC, the new national strategy on domestic and sexual violence, and the other cuts followed.

Relevant targets in relation to the NWS would include for example achieving a balance of 40% of women in the Dail. We only have 13% and falling at present and the government has so far been disinclined to take affirmative action to change this. We very much welcome Minister Mary White's strong commitment to working on this issue, and we have been working constructively with her, and with other parliamentarians in this regard.

Targets would also include an acceptable percentage of house hold income being spent on childcare. We have one of highest such percentages in the OECD. We would need actions and targets focused on the multiple and compound discriminations faced by minority ethnic groups. The NWS should have something to say about the appalling treatment of women in direct provision.

As things are, policy makers have little relevant information with which to judge how effective actions are, and advocates are unable to assess the degree of progress made.

The EC has urged governments to see gender equality policies as a long term investment not as a short term cost. It has warned against seeing equality as a luxury which can wait, when it is in fact an essential component of recovery. But the running down of the NWS continues. The last scheduled monitoring meeting was postponed and a new date has not been set.

There is a review in progress and both Congress and the Women's Council have submitted to this in broadly similar terms.

Neither of us got funded under the new EWM.

Shirley Graham has just been telling me about the workshop she is holding here on behalf of the consultative group on a national action plan on UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. I think the way this work demonstrates respect towards its participants is excellent - an African woman will sing to open the event, and an Irish woman will sing to close it, for example.

I have to disagree with Minister White. The NWS does not offer an effective model for the monitoring and evaluation of the new NAP on UN Resolution 1325. It tell us how not to do it. I don't want to end on a negative note so I will suggest that the consultative process currently being developed between the government and civil society under the independent chairmanship of Inez McCormack is likely to provide good models of monitoring and evaluation from which the NWS, if we really want it to be a living and useful document, could learn.

By Susan McKay,

CEO, NWCI

Dublin, 17th November 2010

(Note: Susan was asked to speak about the National Women's Strategy which the government is proposing as a model of good monitoring and evaluation practise, suitable for the National Action Plan on UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

The NWCI is involved with the Consortium and others in a consultation process on this at present.)