Citizens' Assembly on gender equality only going to focus on helping women, it seems

Public Consultation Questionnaire
Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality

Closing date

The consultation is open until Friday 6 March 2020. It will not be possible to access the online questionnaire after this time. Please note that submissions received after this date will not be considered.

As set out in the Oireachtas resolution, the Assembly has been asked to advance gender equality by bringing forward proposals that:

- challenge the remaining barriers and social norms and attitudes that facilitate gender discrimination towards girls and boys, women and men;

- identify and dismantle economic and salary norms that result in gender inequalities, and reassess the economic value placed on work traditionally held by women;

- in particular, seek to ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in the workplace, politics and public life;

- recognise the importance of early years parental care and seek to facilitate greater work-life balance;

- examine the social responsibility of care and women and men’s co responsibility for care, especially within the family; and

- scrutinise the structural pay inequalities that result in women being disproportionately represented in low pay sectors.

Following on from the above, to prioritise the proposals, which may include policy, legislative or constitutional change, having regard to the legal requirements and the costs versus the potential impact.

No gender parity in Dáil ‘until 2063’ at current rate of progress
Citizens’ Assembly also told of problems caused by gender imbalance in media

The assembly also heard calls for the introduction of gender quotas in the media, academia and at board levels in commercial and State organisations, as well as for the extension of political quotas from general elections to local and Seanad elections.

Men’s Voices, which argued that there should be a men’s equivalent of the National Women’s Council, and the Stop Segregation of Men also made submissions.

iptba wrote: »

https://malechampionsofchange.com/our-team/

The members of the assembly also heard from the Australian group Male Champions of Change, which campaigns for equality between men and women.

Its founder said it was established because “men seem to be missing from the picture” in relation to the issue of gender equality.

“If we want to work with power, we have to work with those who have power – and that is men – to take the message of gender equality to other men.”

17 out of the 20 employees of this supposedly male group are female. The other 3 have male names but one of those 3 looks like they could be non-binary or a transsexual male?

I can imagine that lots of people would see this is unacceptable if the genders were reversed.

Partners
Our partners and advisors include the following organisations:

Chief Executive Women
Office of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
Workplace Gender Equality Agency
Women’s Leadership Institute Australia
UN Women
UN Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles
Catalyst
AccelerateHER

Alison O'Connor: Restrictions? Let's begin by lifting one that has solely targeted women
Article 42.1 does not confine women to their homes, but it has certainly contributed to denying our agency and autonomy

Tomorrow we will be told the result of 80 votes. As well as the domestic expectations of women, among the other ballots were the extension of gender quotas in elections, such as local elections, and looking at increasing financial penalties for parties who fail to meet the targets.

Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality

Today (Saturday 24th April) the results of the deliberations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality (the Assembly) were announced. The Assembly has agreed 45 priority recommendations covering a wide range of areas set out in its Oireachtas mandate. These include recommendations on the Constitution, Politics and Leadership, caregiving and childcare, Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based violence, Pay and the Workplace and Social Protection.

Speaking at the announcement of the results, the Chair of the Assembly Catherine Day said:

“Everyone has their own personal experience of gender equality – or inequality. The members of the Assembly considered factual information and different perspectives on a broad range of topics related to gender equality and then developed and voted on its priority recommendations.

The recommendations the citizens agreed don’t just call for incremental change. They call for big changes that can make Ireland a better and more gender equal place to live for all of us. They call for change in our Constitution, for new laws and policies and for stronger enforcement.

The recommendations we are presenting today come out of more than a year’s hard work and informed consideration by the members. I want to pay tribute to our committed citizens who have given their time to the important issue of gender equality over the last number of months. They now urge the Oireachtas to match their commitment by accepting their recommendations and implementing them without delay to deliver gender equality for Ireland.”

Some of the key recommendations include:

On the constitution:

Insert a new clause into Article 40 to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination.
Delete and replace the text of Article 41.2 (woman in the home) with language that is not gender specific and obliges the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community.
Amend Article 41 so that it would protect private and family life, with the protection afforded to the family not limited to the marital family
On leadership & politics:

Introduce maternity leave for all elected representatives.
By the end of 2022 extend gender quotas for party candidates to local, Seanad and European Elections, increase penalties for parties that don’t meet the quota and increase the threshold from 30% to 40% for both women and men.
Make funding to public bodies contingent on reaching a 40% gender balance quota by 2025.
Enact gender quota legislation that requires private companies to have at least 40% gender balance on their boards.
Make public funding to cultural, sports, arts and media organisations contingent on a quota of 30% representation of women, and of men, on their Governing bodies by 2025 and 40% by 2030.
On Childcare

Move to a publicly funded, accessible and regulated model of childcare over the next decade.
Increase the State share of GDP spent on childcare, from the current 0.37% of GDP to at least 1% by no later than 2030.
Paid leave for parents should cover the first year of a child’s life, be non-transferable, provide lone parents with the same total leave period as a couple and be incentivised by increasing payment levels to encourage increased take up.
On care

Improve terms and conditions for those in paid employment as carers, including access to pensions.
Ensure choice in care and independence for older persons and persons with disabilities.
Changes to Carers Allowance, respite and pensions for family carers.
On domestic, sexual and gender based violence:

Cover gender power dynamics, consent and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence within the revised Relationships and Sexuality curriculum.
Develop guidelines and specialist training for judges and lawyers regarding the treatment of victims/survivors, including the exclusion of the consideration of sexual history, character, attire and counselling/medical records.
Appoint a Victims/Survivors Commissioner as an independent advocate and voice for victims/survivors.
On pay and social protection

Increase the minimum wage to align it with the living wage by 2025
Set targets in legislation to reduce the hourly gender pay gap to 9% by 2025 and to 4% by 2030 with a view to eliminating it by 2035.
Adopt a fully individualised social protection system to reflect the diversity of today’s lives and to promote an equal division of paid work and care.
On technology and the media

Hold technology and social media companies accountable for immediately removing online content that constitutes sexual harassment, bullying, stalking, sexually violent or abusive content
Make special efforts to improve the visibility of men performing caring roles.
Implementation and delivery:

Empower and adequately resource a statutory body for gender equality under a Cabinet Minister charged with cross government co-ordination.
The full text of all the recommendations are listed below and the full voting figures are available at www.citizensassembly.ie

ENDS

Contact: Jack O’Donnell jackodonnell@Q4PR.ie 0876607593

FULL LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDATIONS

The Constitution

Article 40.1 of the Constitution should be amended to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination.
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.


Article 41 of the Constitution should be amended so that it would protect private and family life, with the protection afforded to the family not limited to the marital family.


Care

To improve the terms and conditions of those in paid employment as carers (for children and adults):


(a) They should have a pay structure and benefits (including sick pay and pensions) that reward their level of skill and training, similar to those of teachers and nurses.
(b) They should have a career structure, including access to training and professional registration, which enables them to progress in their chosen area.


Reform Carers’ Allowance by:


(a) Increasing the level of the income disregard.
(b) Reimbursing the costs associated with caring.
(c) Increasing the ceiling on the number of hours in paid work outside the home.
(d) Providing access to State employment and training programmes.


The State should develop an individualised pension solution for carers to ensure they have an adequate income once they reach retirement age.


Improve respite provision for carers by:


(a) Increasing the level of the Carers’ Support Grant in the next Budget and keeping it under review to ensure it keeps pace with other increases in social protection payments.
(b) Providing adequate access to a range of respite services to meet individual needs.
Ireland should:


(a) Over the next decade move to a publicly funded, accessible and regulated model of quality, affordable early years and out of hours childcare.
(b) Increase the State share of GDP spent on childcare, from the current 0.37% of GDP to at least 1% by no later than 2030 in line with the UNICEF target.


Paid Leave for parents should:


(a) Cover the first year of a child’s life.
(b) Be non-transferable to encourage sharing of childcare responsibility between parents.
(c) Provide lone parents with the same total leave period as a couple.
(d) Be incentivised by increasing payment levels to encourage increased take up.


Older people and persons with disabilities should:


(a) Be actively supported and resourced to live independently.
(b) Have access to person centred financial supports to serve their individual needs.
(c) Be enabled to participate as fully as possible in decisions on their care needs, based on principles of fairness, respect, equality and dignity.
(d) Be facilitated and resourced as much as possible if their choice is to be cared for at home.


Provision for those who wish to be cared for at home should be improved by:


(a) Providing a statutory right for payment for home care packages as well as nursing care.
(b) Increasing the annual home care budget to meet growing demand and reduce waiting lists.


Lifelong care for persons with disabilities who need it should be seamless and there should not be any break in services provided or need to reapply for support when a person turns 18.


Gender equality principle in law and policy

Empower and adequately resource a statutory body for gender equality under the responsibility of a Cabinet Minister charged with cross government coordination of gender equality issues.


Ensure data gathering on key gender equality issues (including care), regular publication of such data and remedial action where necessary.


Reflecting international best practice, require gender impact assessment of all proposed legislation and legislate for equality budgeting across all Government bodies including local authorities.
Anti-discrimination and equality legislation should be:


(a) Regularly reviewed to ensure effective monitoring, investigation, reporting and enforcement.
(b) A standard part of employee training.


Leadership in the workplace, norms & stereotypes, education

Work places should be required to develop, resource, implement and monitor gender-neutral recruitment and promotion policies and practices including:


(a) Specific policies to promote gender equality in leadership positions.
(b) A requirement to operate gender-sensitive and anti-discriminatory selection and promotions processes.
(c) Equal access to training, assignments and mentoring opportunities for all employees including part-time and remote workers.


Appropriately resource schools to facilitate:


(a) Provision of a broad range of subject choice that counters gender stereotyping.
(b) Provision of gender-neutral career information and advice from early second level education.


Curriculum review and development should:


(a) Promote gender equality and diversity.
(b) Explicitly cover gender power dynamics, consent and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence – both online and offline – within the revised Relationships and Sexuality curriculum.


All levels of the education system from pre-school to third level, led by the relevant Government Department, should:


(a) Ensure that initial education and continuing professional development for staff includes modules promoting gender awareness and gender-sensitive teaching methods.
(b) Monitor policies and practices – including school inspection and whole school evaluation – through the lens of gender equality and report regularly on trends and outcomes by gender.


In view of the gendered impact on women, reform the Third Level Grants Scheme to ensure that those accessing part-time courses are eligible to apply for a grant.


Media and advertising, including social media, organisations should:


(a) Be more strongly regulated to promote gender equality and avoid gender discrimination and stereotyping and take action where discriminatory behaviours occur.
(b) Be obliged to annually publish details of their monitoring of, and compliance with, gender equality and inclusion measures.
(c) Make special efforts to improve the visibility of men performing caring roles.


Provide appropriate State funding and resources for:


(a) Strengthening existing programmes to encourage women into male-dominated careers (e.g. STEM, Science Technology Engineering and Maths) and including apprenticeships.
(b) Developing initiatives to encourage men into female-dominated careers (e.g. caring professions).


Gender Quotas, politics & public life

By the end of 2022:


(a) Extend the gender quota for party candidates at general elections to local elections, elections to the Seanad and European Parliament elections and review every 5 years.
(b) Increase penalties for parties that do not meet the statutory gender quotas.
(c) The 30% threshold should be increased to 40% for women (and 40% for men) for all elections.


Improve gender balance on boards by:


(a) Making funding to public bodies contingent on reaching a 40% gender balance quota by 2025.
(b) Enacting gender quota legislation that requires private companies to have at least 40% gender balance according to specific criteria such as turnover, number of employees etc.


Public funding to cultural, sports, arts and media organisations should be contingent on:


(a) A quota of 30% representation of women, and of men, on their Governing bodies by 2025 and 40% by 2030.
(b) Published plans to advance gender equality in their organisations.
(c) Annual reporting on progress towards agreed quotas on gender representation and funding.


Improve family-friendly practices for all representatives elected to public office by:


(a) Making maternity, paternity and parental leave available to all elected representatives, including Ministers (through legislation or constitutional amendment as required).
(b) Providing flexible working options including remote working and voting and adjusting meeting times and rules to suit caring responsibilities (through legislation or constitutional amendment as required).


Strengthen legislation, reporting and monitoring of press and social media by:


(a) Holding technology and social media companies accountable for immediately removing online content that constitutes sexual harassment, bullying, stalking, sexually violent or abusive content that they have identified or about which they have been informed.
(b) Penalising and eliminating hateful and abusive language, including on the basis of gender, with regular reviews to ensure legislation keeps pace with technological advances.


Domestic, Sexual & Gender-Based Violence

All Government action to prevent and counter domestic, sexual and gender-based violence should be coordinated by a Cabinet Minister with direct responsibility for implementation of a national strategy.


Eliminate tolerance in our society of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence by developing and implementing awareness, prevention and education campaigns which may include children of an appropriate age on:


(a) The impact and harm caused by domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
(b) Supports available to victims/survivors.


Support justice for victims/survivors by:


(a) Reviewing and reforming the courts system – including the family courts – to better protect and support victims/survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and their dependents and remove barriers to justice.
(b) Developing guidelines and specialist training for judges and lawyers regarding the treatment of victims/survivors, including the exclusion of the consideration of sexual history, character, attire and counselling/medical records.
(c) Introducing tougher sentences and rehabilitation programmes for the perpetrators of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and sexual crimes.
(d) Providing specialised confidential health care and other support services for victims/survivors including legal representation.
(e) Putting in place a Victims/Survivors Commissioner as an independent advocate and voice for victims/survivors.


Ensure sufficient publicly funded provision of beds, shelters and accommodation for victims/survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence across the country and their dependents in line with the Istanbul Convention.


Recognise female genital mutilation (FGM) as a ground for seeking asylum, and provide culturally sensitive specialised services for victims/survivors.


Pay and workplace conditions

The State should set targets in legislation to reduce the hourly gender pay gap (currently 14%) to 9% by 2025 and to 4% by 2030 with a view to eliminating it by 2035.


The Gender Pay Gap Information Bill should be enacted and implemented without delay. The law should include penalties for non-compliance and an obligation for annual reporting.


Increase the minimum wage to align it with the living wage by 2025 while considering potential employment impacts on small businesses.


Support employment contract security through:
(a) Establishing a legal right to collective bargaining to improve wages, working conditions and rights in all sectors.
(b) Increased resourcing of the Workplace Relations Commission for more effective enforcement of current employment laws.


Introduce a statutory right to reasonable access to flexible working.


Social Protection

Adopt a fully individualised social protection system to reflect the diversity of today’s lives and to promote an equal division of paid work and care.


Social protection services should:
(a) Set social protection payments and/or supports at a level that lifts people above the poverty line, prevents deprivation and supports an adequate standard of living.
(b) Regularly train staff to prioritise dignity and respect in all contact with clients, including giving a choice in how they receive payments.


Take account of gender equality issues in piloting a Universal Basic Income scheme.


Address the specific needs of lone parents to incentivise and support them in accessing work or education, including provision of child and after-school care.
Immediately address the impact of the Marriage Bar by automatically qualifying women affected by the marriage bar for a state pension.


Regardless of the pension model, enrolment into pension savings should be automatic and start when a person starts earning, subject to a threshold on low incomes and an opt-out clause.


Introduce a Universal State Pension so that every resident of Ireland receives a pension upon reaching pension age.


Members also voted in favour of the following:

Our recommendations call for better public services and improved social protection in order to advance gender equality. These should be funded firstly through greater efficiency and accountability for public funding and reprioritisation between current spending and revenue raising. If necessary, we are also prepared to support and pay higher taxes based on the principle of ability to pay, to make a reality of our recommendations.

mr.anonymous wrote: »

Irish Times today reporting that Citizen's Assembly votes to delete the constitutional clause on woman's place in the home.

"The 99 members of the assembly on gender equality voted for a radical programme of reform which could see gender quotas in all elections and across public and private bodies, extra supports for carers and a new clause in the constitution recognising all forms of families in the Constitution, not only families based on marriage.

Assembly chair Dr Catherine Day said the citizens had not called for “incremental change” but for “big changes that can make Ireland a better and more gender equal place to live for all of us.”

That particular clause seems archaic. I'm not against its removal. The next part of the article:

"The citizens recommended that by the end of 2022 gender quotas should be extended for party candidates to local, Seanad and European elections...

Similarly, gender quota legislation should require private companies to have at least 40 per cent gender balance on their boards."

How can removing such a clause have the consequence of introducing strict gender quotas? How would this be achievable for make up of the Oireachtas and boards of companies? Why not elect and appoint on the basis of competence and suitability?

I hope there will be politicians and business representative bodies speaking out on this.

Citizens’ Assembly votes to delete and replace Constitution’s ‘women in home’ clause
Radical changes would include gender quotas and extra pay for carers

Citizens' Assembly recommends 'women in home' clause be removed from constitution
The National Women’s Council welcomed the recommendation that the ‘sexist’ clause be removed.

Catherine Day: Importance of care key Citizens’ Assembly theme
Assembly was concerned about carers’ low remuneration, lack of sick pay and pensions
Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 00:44

"It should surprise no one that 99 randomly chosen citizens should come up with a set of largely sensible policy proposals that would be beyond the wit of the shower of chancers, rogues and gob****es - with a handful of genuinely public interest representatives thrown in - that succeed in being elected to the Dáil"
[commenter, not from article]

Ah yes, the participants just come up with these ideas entirely by themselves, right? They don't have a pre-approved, NGO shopping list presented to them as the "obvious" choice and there is no element of groupthink among the participants in following said NGO backed policies?

I wonder how many of the Assembly members pay income tax? It wouldn't be right for those who don't pay income tax to be suggesting that others should fund their grand ideas. Only around half of Irish adults pay income tax.....if income tax is used to fund the recommendations the burden of paying for them won't be evenly distributed amongst the population. A fairer way would be to increase consumption taxes. I also wonder if they looked at the construction, fishing, transport security, and emergency services sectors before calling for more gender balance.....it is not right that the burden of doing dangerous jobs falls on men in the same way that it's not right the burden of caring falls on women.

There is a lot we can do right away to bring about proper gender balance. We should insist that all new State funded child care facilities and social housing building projects have 50:50 staffing levels.....this might slow down delivery but the sacrifice will be worth in the long term. We should insist that all male teachers and nurses be hired before resorting to female hires to complete staffing requirements.....this would reduce the gender imbalances in our schools and healthcare facilities. Achieving gender balance in our schools is very important as this is where our children are moulded for life. What we need are more practical solutions and less ideological aspirations.

"They meet to reflect and debate topics agreed by the Oireachtas, informed by expert presentations, evidence and different perspectives."I would hope that some day people would see these 'citizen's assemblies' as an awful period in Irish history where people are made to feel important by 'experts' and difficult political decisions deflected to the hapless participant as representative of a gullible society. It is really weaponised advocacy politics under a different name and as democratic as the old commie politics or equivalent subcultures .

Was Jordan Peterson invited to address the Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality? Or Christina Hoff Sommers, for that matter? Were gender-critical feminists invited? Or just people who would willingly participate in an initiative to guarantee a pre-determined outcome?

greenspurs wrote: »

Where is gender equality needed for helping men?

http://empathygap.uk/
Men and Boys’ Issues in Brief

A very brief bullet point list of men and boys’ issues follows. For a slight amplification of what these issues entail – but still in brief – read the Introduction to the Disadvantages faced by Men and Boys http://empathygap.uk/?page_id=22 .

Educational disadvantage of boys, from aged 5 to university.

Lack of recognition of, or assistance for, male victims of partner abuse.

Men’s shorter life expectancy.

Substantially less research funding on men-only diseases compared with women-only diseases.

Averaged over the last five years, the male suicide rate in England was 3.3 times that of females (in Wales, 4.3 times), suicide being the commonest cause of death in males under 45.

Men have virtually no paternity rights.

Paternity fraud is rife, is extremely damaging to men and children, but society regards it as just fine.

Fathers are greatly disadvantaged in child contact arrangements after partner separation.

False allegations are commonly used as a tactic against men in the family courts.

At any point in time, one in four fathers do not live with their children (under 16), most often against their wishes.

Only about 50% of fathers will live with their dependent children continuously to their 16th birthday.

The bar is being ever lowered on what is regarded as sexual assault by males on females, whilst the penalties are becoming more severe. The result is that women have the power to destroy a man for minor offences or issues of perception.

In contrast, sexual assault of males (of all ages) by females remains largely unrecognised by society and the criminal justice system alike.

Grossly inequitable treatment of men and women in the criminal justice system. Three out of every four men in prison would not be there if they were treated like women.

Whilst we hear a great deal about the “pay gap”, the power must surely reside with who spends the money. Women certainly spend at least as much money as men, whoever earns it.
For full time workers under 40 years old the gender pay-rate gap is negligible.
For part time workers the gender pay-rate gap is in favour of women (about 5%).

Men work 609 million hours per week at paid work compared to women’s 394 million hours. Men also work for more continuous years over life. Hence, men work more and are home less – this is contribution, not privilege.

We hear a great deal about men not pulling their weight as regards domestic and childcare chores, but studies show that totalling all work, men and women work about the same number of hours.

Men are 96% of workplace fatalities, and are far more likely to suffer injuries at work or to get work related diseases than women.

Women seek “equality” with men only in desirable occupations (consultants, professors, Board members, MPs, etc) not in the jobs that 99% of men do – the nasty, dirty, dangerous jobs that lead to the above fatalities.

Men (or boys) are more likely to be the victims of violence than women (or girls) – despite the constant exhortations that we should “end violence against women”.

Around 90% of homeless rough sleepers are men.

99% of war deaths and casualties are men.

Female genital mutilation is illegal and universally reviled. Male genital mutilation is regarded as perfectly acceptable and without disbenefit to the man (it isn’t). Half a million African boys killed or maimed in the last eight years by botched circumcisions goes unnoticed.

Female suffering is newsworthy, male suffering is not (e.g., Boko Haram – how many people know that their main activity is killing boys?).

There is a lack of action on under-representation of men in certain professions, contrasting with the huge focus on assisting women into areas where they are under-represented (e.g., STEM, though women now dominate in STEMM).

Male-only organisations have systematically been obliged to accept females, whilst the reverse is not true.

History is being systematically misrepresented as gendered oppression, rather than the oppression of the many, of both sexes, by the few, of both sexes.
Both sexes had to fight for the vote; both sexes had to fight to be educated.

For a little more detail on these issues read the Introduction to the Disadvantages faced by Men and Boys http://empathygap.uk/?page_id=22 .

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/07/28/time-needed-for-proper-gender-equality-information-campaign-adds-to-doubts-over-november-referendum-date

That timescale adds to doubts over the Government’s intended November date for the people to vote on the issues of gender equality, the definition of “family” and the “place of women in the home”.

The plans for either an omnibus vote on all of the issues, or potentially three referendums, were announced in March in what Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described then as a “tight timeline”.

Will be interesting to see the wording chosen.

The Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman has said a proposed referendum to replace the constitutional reference to women's duties in the home will not take place this year.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2023/0924/1407051-women-home-referendum

Article doesn’t give details on the wordings.

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/09/27/two-referendums-needed-to-replace-constitutional-provision-on-women-in-home/

Two referendums needed to replace Constitutional provision on women in home

Government’s legislative programme for autumn proposes number of major Bills

Lack of buy-in may be biggest challenge for referendums

Updated / Sunday, 10 Dec 2023 10:59

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/1210/1421127-referendums-analysis

This article makes clear what specific changes to the constitution are being proposed.