International Women’s Day will take place on Wednesday, March 8th.
People Before Profit are calling on our members to support the march organised by the National Women’s Council of Ireland and ROSA – Socialist Feminist Movement which will take place at 5.30 pm at the Spire. Join the People Before Profit contingent on March 8th.
The far-right has attempted to use violence against women as a stick to beat migrants with by claiming that migrant men are a danger to women. This is simply not true. 87% of the murders of women in Ireland were carried out by men known to them. One in four women in Ireland who have been in a relationship has been abused by a current or former partner.
The sobering fact is that the most dangerous place for a woman is in her own home.
Currently, in the South, Ireland does not meet its legal obligation to provide refuge spaces to women and children in terms of capacity or accessibility. We should have 500 spaces but we only have 144 nationwide and 9 counties still have no refuges. Minister Helen McEntee made the feeble promise to double refuge provision by 2026 which would only bring us to half the recommended spaces in 4 years time. To date, there has been little to no advancements in this area.
Between March and Sept 2020, 455 women and children sought refuge every month. 2,159 of these requests could not be met which meant 8 women a day were turned away due to a lack of capacity.
The Government have failed women.
The housing crisis, the cost of living crisis and the breakdown in our health services all affect women disproportionately and increase their vulnerability to abuse and violence, especially poor and working-class women.
On top of this women are still paid, on average, 14% less than men.
Irish childcare costs are horrific. A family with two children will payout 40% of their income on childcare compared to 12% for OCED countries.
Irish employers are not obliged to pay maternity leave that is equivalent to the actual income that a woman earned. Instead, many women in the private sector must rely on a state payment.
Despite Repeal, women have not won full rights to bodily autonomy, North or South.
For these reasons and more People Before Profit is calling our members to join the protest on International Women’s Day.
