Dublin to celebrate International Women's Day
The achievements of the women’s movement across Ireland was being celebrated this weekend with a host of events to mark International Women’s Day.
Feminists in Dublin will pay tribute to female pioneers tomorrow by taking to the streets for a walking tour.
Several sites relevant to the history of Irish women will be visited during the two-hour educational walk including the Mansion House, Trinity College, Molloy Malone statue, O’Connell Street and Parnell Square.
Organiser Niav Keating said although the event will highlight the many achievements of the women’s movement in Ireland, the country still has a long way to go.
“In 2008, women are told that they are equal to men and that there is no longer a need for feminism,” said Ms Keating.
“However, 30 years after equal pay legislation women earn on average 11% less than men.
“Ireland has one of the worst parliamentary gender balances in the democratic world. Currently, only 22 of the 166 TDs in Leinster House are women.”
The walk – organised by Choice Ireland, RAG magazine, and other women’s groups and individuals – is among a host of events planned over the weekend.
A Women Empowering Women day is being staged in the Radisson Hotel, Stillorgan, focusing on aspects of personal development, while Sinn Fein will hold an evening of women singers and musicians, including Roisin Elsafty, Roisin Gaffney, and Anna Buckley, at Liberty Hall.
The eve of International Women’s Day was also marked today at a luncheon for the Tallaght-based charity An Cosan.
The educational project was first initiated by Drs Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone who wed in Canada in 2003. The couple are fighting to have their partnership recognised in the Irish courts.
Minister of State Pat Carey told delegates at the event that the annual date was a celebration of the economic, social, cultural and political achievements of women.
“Whether it be within a local community or globally, the multiple women’s organisations which exist within our communities reflect the seriousness of the message for women’s equal rights and representation,” he said.
“I think that over the past 30 years the gender equality landscape has altered considerably here in Ireland.
“Women, rightly have many more legal entitlements and protections – equal pay for equal work, maternity legislation and so on. In the professions, sport, business, and the arts, and many other areas, there is a consistently increasing representation of women.
“Today and tomorrow is a celebration of all these positives.”
However, SIPTU’s National Equality Secretary, Rosheen Callender told the ICTU Women’s Conference in Tralee that the establishment of an independent commission to mark the day would investigate the range of reasons why women’s lifetime incomes are still so much lower than men’s.
“After all these years of equal pay legislation and trade union negotiation, even the narrowest definitions of the gender pay gap reveal unacceptable differences between men and women’s incomes,” she said.
“There is a need for urgent action to address the obvious disparities between men and women’s retirement incomes and pensions.”
While latest EU figures revealed life expectancy for Irish women just above the EU average – 82.1 years compared to 80.9 years – NGO Oxfam Ireland said women in sub-Saharan Africa still face a one in sixteen chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.
Niger, one of the poorest countries in Africa, is the most dangerous place to give birth with women facing an astonishing one in seven chance of dying.
Oxfam is calling on rich countries to increase the amount of aid they provide to poverty reduction
Spokeswoman Emma Seery said: “It is unacceptable that in this day-and-age, so many women in poor countries are still dying in pregnancy and childbirth.
“World leaders must address this urgently. It is crucial they give the support and money needed to improve health systems and to save millions of women’s lives.”
