Aoife Moore: When female politicians stick their neck out for women it means so much
Senator House Nolan Holly Cairns, Moya Lisa Mcentee, Chambers Td, Leinster Minister Justice Td, Helen Outside And Left, Picture:
The life of a politician isn't an easy one, the life of a female politician is even harder, which is why when female politicians stick their neck out for other women, it means so much more.
In the last year, Social Democrat TD for Cork south-west, Holly Cairns, Minister of Justice Helen McEntee and Fianna Fáil senator Lisa Chambers have shown total dedication to making women's lives better across Ireland.
Holly Cairns, who is the only woman elected in all of Cork, alongside 17 men, has been one of the most effective advocates on the opposition benches when it comes to holding the government to account on gender-based violence and refuge services.
Not a week goes by without Cairns on her feet, arguing that more must be done to protect women and children fleeing violence at home and criticising the government for the way in which they have adopted the Istanbul Convention, which has seen Ireland short thousands of refuge places of the recommended figure.
In November, she tabled a bill that would legislate for family leave for local councillors.
The Bill would provide an entitlement for a member of a local authority to take leave from attending meetings of the authority as a consequence of maternity, paternity or an adoption, where currently, councillors are taking sick leave to have their children. She also paired with Helen McEntee during her pregnancy, ensuring that votes were not affected when the Minister was having her baby boy last year.
Former Mayo TD and now senator Lisa Chambers has not let her exit from the Dáil chamber affect her work advocating for essential women's issues.
A mother herself, she spoke openly about having to go through maternity visits alone at the height of Covid-19 restrictions and called on her own party colleagues to work to rectify the issue.
In September, she introduced a bill to make stalking a standalone criminal offence under Irish law, with a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Ms Chambers said it was important that legislators listened to women "and historically in this country we have not been very good at doing that and we have to frame our laws and modernise our laws in response to what victims have been through."
Ms Chambers, who spent 13 years in the Defence Forces has been an outspoken advocate for the women who have come forward with allegations of sexual assault within the organisation, saying there is a “cultural issue” that needs to be rooted out.
The first female Minister of Justice since in over two decades, Helen McEntee has been clear from the outset that she would use her time as the minister, to bring Irish legislation on sexual violence into the 21st century.
This year, she has promised to publish new criminal offences for stalking and non-fatal strangulation in wake of the murder of Ashling Murphy, while her department will now take over refuges, services, and other supports for victims of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence, in order to make the service more accessible. The Minister for Justice has also vowed to deliver more than 400 refuge beds across the country, as part of a plan to boost domestic violence services.
The new Sexual Offences Bill will extend victim anonymity to new categories of victims, will repeal publicly delivered sentences and will make further changes to legal representation afforded to victims. New hate crime legislation tabled last year by the Minister was updated to add gender, including gender expression or identity, disability, and Traveller ethnicity.