Referendum to remove 'women in the home' reference in the Constitution set for November
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A referendum to remove a "sexist" reference to 'women in the home' in the Constitution is to take place in November.
Amending Article 41.2 of the Constitution has been long discussed and was among the recommendations made by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality.
During the previous government, then justice minister Charlie Flanagan had initially sought to hold a vote on the matter in October 2018; however, this referendum was postponed.
Confirming that the poll will now take place later this year, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “For too long, women and girls have carried a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities, been discriminated against at home and in the workplace, objectified or lived in fear of domestic or gender-based violence."
The Citizens' Assembly recommended that Article 40.1 of the Constitution should be amended to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination.
The group also found that the Constitution should be changed to protect all family life and should not be limited to the marital family.
It recommends that Article 41.2, which refers to women in the home, 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.
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, said: “I commend the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality and the membership of the recent special Oireachtas committee on gender equality for their work to advance these difficult and sensitive issues.
“My department will very shortly be convening an inter-departmental committee to develop policy recommendations for consideration by Government, with a view to agreement by Government of wording for the proposed referenda.”
Mr O'Gorman intends to publish the general scheme of one or more referendum bills by the end of June so that the Electoral Commission can be briefed and the bill, or bills, can be considered by the Oireachtas.
The National Women's Council (NWC) has been campaigning for some time to have what it describes as "sexist language" taken out of the Constitution and replaced with a gender-neutral definition that enshrines the value of care.
NWC director Orla O’Connor said: "As a society, we must start properly valuing care. That means having decent pay and working conditions for carers and a social welfare system that ensures they have an adequate standard of living.
"It means supporting women and men to combine unpaid care with paid employment through better, paid family leave and accessible, affordable, quality childcare."