Ireland and Society, Lecture Four: Women and Gender Politics

3. Over the past thirty years, despite their being essential
to human life, neoliberal restructuring across the world
has privatised, eroded and demolished our shared
resources, and ushered in a ‘crisis of social
reproduction.’
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

4. The term social reproduction encompasses all the means by which society
reproduces its families, citizens and workers.
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

5. The term social reproduction encompasses all the means by which society
reproduces its families, citizens and workers.
It includes all the labour that is necessary for a society to reproduce itself: the
biological production of people and workers, and all the social practices that
sustain the population - bearing children, raising children, performing emotional
work, providing clothing and food, and cooking and cleaning.
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

6. The term social reproduction encompasses all the means by which society
reproduces its families, citizens and workers.
It includes all the labour that is necessary for a society to reproduce itself: the
biological production of people and workers, and all the social practices that
sustain the population - bearing children, raising children, performing emotional
work, providing clothing and food, and cooking and cleaning.
As a concept social reproduction has been key to feminist social theory, because
it challenges the usual distinctions that are made between productive and
reproductive labour, or between the labour market and the home.
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

7. as a result of cuts to benefits and the social wage,
women are also being forced out of the home and into
(predominantly low paid) waged work, as families
increasingly require more income to cover the basic
cost of living.
[In the UK] Proposed benefit reform brutally promises to
`encourage' mothers back to work through compulsory
labour programmes; lone parents will be expected to be
actively seeking work when their children are as young
as five years old.
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

8. The combined effects for working women of the
removal of socially provided childcare (which should be
seen as part of the social wage),
the diminishing availability of work that pays an
adequate wage,
and the increase in their responsibilities for unpaid care
work,
tend to push women into informal labour markets,
including sex work, that are unregulated, and in which
workers face high levels of exploitation and, often,
violence.
‘Cuts are a Feminist Issue’, Soundings (Dec 2011)

21. Closing down of Dissent - Attacks on Equality in Ireland
Equality Bodies – closed down or with reduced Budgets
 Combat Poverty Agency –closed 2008 incorporated into the Department of Social Protection
 Equality Authority – 2009 43% cut and now being merged with the Human Rights Commission
 Women’s Health Council – closed 2009
 Crisis Pregnancy Agency – closed and merged with the Health Service Executive
 Irish Human Rights Commission -Budget cuts since 2009 and merged with Equality Authority
 Equality for Women Measure - co-funded by EU Operational Programme ---budget partly transferred out of
this area and now under Dept. For Enterprise, Trade and Employment
 National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) _Closed 2009
 Gender Equality desk at the Department (Ministry) of Justice, Equality and Law Reform – Desk Closed 2009
 Gender Equality Unit – Department of Education – Closed early 2000s
 Higher Education Equality Unit – UCC -Closed and merged into Higher Education Authority (early 2000s)
 National Women’s Council of Ireland -158 member organisations- budget cuts of 15% in 2008-11 and 38% in
2012
 Traveller Education cutbacks 2011 and 2012 – all 42 Visiting teaches for Travellers removed*
 Rape Crisis Network Ireland – core Health Authority Funding removed 2011
 SAFE Ireland network of Women’s’ Refuges - core Health Authority Funding removed 2011
 People With Disabilities in Ireland's (PWDI) - funding removed 2012
 National Carers’ Strategy – abandoned 2009
Kathleen Lynch, Equality Studies UCD
School of Social Justice 21

22. Gender and Caring
Notes on Lynch and Lyons, ‘The Gendered Order of Caring’ in
Ursula Barry (ed) Where Are We Now? New Feminist Perspectives
on Women in Contemporary Ireland (Dublin: Tasc, 2008)

23. There are deep gender inequalities in the doing of care and love
work that operate to the advantage of men.
It is women’s unwaged labour and related domestic labour that
frees men up to exercise control in the public sphere of politics,
the economy and culture.
… there is a moral imperative on women to do care work that
does not apply equally to men ; a highly gendered moral code
impels women to do the greater part of primary caring, with most
believing they have no choice in the matter.

24. The Irish government collects data
on unpaid caring within households
in
1. the Census
2. the Quarterly Household
Survey (QNHS).
Within the Census, care is defined
as being given by ‘persons aged
15yrs and over who provide regular
unpaid help for a friend or family
member with a long-term illness,
health problem or disability
(including problems due to age).
P.167-8

25. According to the [2006]
Census there are less than
150,000 people, 5 per cent
of the adult population in
unpaid care work (mostly
with adults) of whom 61
per cent are women and 39
per cent are men.
However, when we
measure all types of caring
activity, as has been done in
the European Community
household Panel (ECPH)
we see that there are 1
million people who do
caring who are not named
in the census.

26. Even though it is no doubt
unintentional, the failure to
collect data on hours spent
on child care work in the
Census, means that child
care, which is the major
form of care work in Irish
society, is no counted in
terms of work hours.
… women are almost five
times as likely to work long
care hours than is the case
for men.
Women spend much more
time at care work than men,
even when they are
employed.

30. Context

31. The Eighth Amendment

33. Women and
Decision
Making
politics and business leadership
- chronic underrepresentation at
local and national level
- 2014 local elections
- 17% women candidates / 17%
of seats
- better represented at MEP
level
- 2011 saw an increase from
13% to 27% in women
ministers

34. 30%
of candidates in elections must now be women after a
change in the law in 2014. This will go up to 40%.

36. -34% of state
boards are
women
-9% of private
boards are
women
(OECD, 2013)
There are guidelines to seek 40% on state boards but no enforcement.

37. Effects
Lack of funding allocated to gendered areas, such as care services
Lack of representation at senior levels gives rise to lack of flexi work
options gives rise to lack of representation……...and so on
Women are the majority of public sector workers but are underrepresented
at senior levels particularly in education (80% of senior uni posts are held
by men)
Only five out of 36 senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs are
held by women
Reflected in activism?

38. Women and
Work
Unpaid or low paid
- framework of anti-
discrimination laws that are
enforced
- Employment Equality Acts
1998 & 2004
- Equal Status Acts 2000 and
2004

39. Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004, which provide for maternity leave;
Adoptive Leave Act 1995;
Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2006;
Carer’s Leave Act 2001;
Protection of Employees (Part-time Work) Act 2001 and the Protection of
Employees (Fixed-term Work) Act 2003;
National Minimum Wage Act 2000.
There are no specific regulations on the gender pay gap.

40. Young women saw their employment rate drop from 66 per cent in 2008 to 46 per cent in 2014 (CSO).
The gender gap in employment rates narrowed during the crisis years due to the collapse in construction.
Women are the majority of part-time workers in Ireland and their work is becoming increasingly casualised
(eg teaching).
Ireland has the highest rate of low pay (after the U.S.) in the developed world and the rate is growing
indicating the importance of the National Minimum Wage.
Growing use of zero hour contracts and pay cuts for new entrants (teachers and nurses earn 20% less).
Very little childcare infrastructure and high cost where it exists
There is a persistent and significant gender pay gap in Ireland and it has increased during the crisis years to
24.6% (OECD).
There is a marked gender difference in pension coverage in Ireland with most women reliant on a low level
State pension.

41. Reproductive
Health and
Rights
options cost money
- OTC emergency contraception
- extremely restrictive abortion
law
- highly regulated information
laws

52. Conclusion
- Good legislative framework but little policy
commitment, and no constitutional commitment to
gender equality
- Current constitution is a huge bar to women’s
equality
- Lack of representation has led to little focus on
gendered issues
- Women and minorities have borne the brunt of
austerity