According to Ireland’s Constitution, a woman’s place is in the home. But voters will decide on Friday — International Women’s Day — whether to change the 87-year-old document to remove passages the government says are outdated and sexist.
Twin referendums will be held on deleting a reference to women’s domestic duties and broadening the definition of the family.
The first vote deals with a part of the constitution that pledges to protect the family as the primary unit of society. Voters are being asked to remove a reference to marriage as the basis “on which the family is founded” and replace it with a clause that says families can be founded “on marriage or on other durable relationships.” If passed, it will be the 39th amendment to Ireland’s Constitution.
The second change — a proposed 40th amendment — would remove a reference to women’s role in the home as a key support to the state, and delete a statement that “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”
It would add a clause saying the state will strive to support “the provision of care by members of a family to one another.”
Polls are now open in Ireland on referendum votes to update the country’s constitution to remove language about ‘women in the home’ and ‘makeup of family,’ which the prime minister has called ‘very old-fashioned, very sexist.’
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced a year ago, on International Women’s Day, that the government would hold a referendum to enshrine gender equality and remove discriminatory language from the constitution.
The new votes are about removing “very old-fashioned language” and recognizing the realities of modern family life, said Varadkar, Ireland’s first ethnic minority leader, who is in a same-sex relationship but not married.
The social transformation of Ireland has been reflected in a series of constitutional changes. Irish voters legalized divorce in a 1995 referendum, backed same-sex marriage in a 2015 vote and repealed a ban on abortions in 2018.
Opinion polls suggest support for the “yes” side on both votes, but many voters remain undecided, and turnout may be low.
Opponents say wording is poorly thought out
Ireland’s main political parties all support the changes, including centrist government coalition partners Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, as well as the biggest opposition party, Sinn Fein.
Many women support the change. Tracy Carroll from County Meath in central Ireland, who cares full time for her two children, said women had long been told “our place in society is in the home and looking after our children and our husbands.”
“We’ve moved from that, but the constitution hasn’t moved from that,” she told Sky News.
Opponents say the wording of the changes is poorly thought out and could have unintended consequences. The Free Legal Advice Centers, a legal charity, has expressed concern that the change to the section on care contains “harmful stereotypes such as the concept that the provision of care … is the private responsibility of unpaid family members without any guarantee of state support.”
Some disability rights campaigners argue the emphasis on care treats disabled people as a burden, rather than as individuals with rights that should be guaranteed by the state.
Polling stations are open until 10 p.m. on Friday. Ballot counting starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with results likely to be known Saturday afternoon or evening.
International Women’s Day marked around the world
The referendum comes as other votes, protests and marches for International Women’s Day take place around the world. Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day is a national holiday in about 20 countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
France inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution on Friday, a powerful message of support for women’s rights — making it the first country to explicitly guarantee abortion rights in its national charter.
The measure was overwhelmingly approved by French lawmakers earlier this week, and Friday’s ceremony means it can now enter into force.
In Italy, where the country’s first female prime minister is in power, thousands of people marched in Rome to protest gender-based violence. The issue grabbed public attention after the particularly gruesome murder of a young woman, as well as data showing more than half of the 120 women murdered in Italy last year were killed by their current or former partners.
At street rallies in Seoul, participants had an eye on next month’s parliamentary elections in South Korea and expressed hope that parties would prioritize gender equality.
In Russia, where the United Nations says human rights have deteriorated since the military’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin saluted Russian women fighting in the war and those waiting at home for their loved ones who had been deployed.
Women in Afghanistan staged rare protests against harsh Taliban restrictions. The country’s rulers have banned girls and women from education above Grade 6 and from most jobs. Females are also barred from public spaces like parks. A group of women gathered indoors in Kabul, holding up signs to hide their faces, and chanted, “No to Gender Apartheid” and “Afghanistan is Hell for Women.”
