Our Campaigns - News - Ireland to vote over constitution clause on women's role in the home

New User Account

"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."

Ireland to vote over constitution clause on women's role in the home

NEWS DETAILS

Parent(s)

Container

Contributor

IndyGeorgia

Last Edited

IndyGeorgia Jul 05, 2018 08:15pm

Logged

Category

Announcement

Author

Reuters in Dublin

News Date

Thursday, July 5, 2018 07:50:00 PM UTC0:0

Description

Ireland will hold a referendum to remove a clause in the constitution marking the importance of a woman’s “life within the home” and encouraging mothers to shun paid employment to fulfil domestic duties, the government has announced.

The move unveiled on Thursday is the latest to update Ireland’s socially conservative 1937 constitution to reflect a more secular and socially liberal population.

Ireland was long one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries, but opinions have changed rapidly in recent decades as the power of the Roman Catholic church has waned. A 2015 referendum introduced gay marriage into the constitution and a vote earlier this year allowed access to abortion.

The constitution, which includes a number of references to the country’s traditional Christian ethos, currently contains a clause that “recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”.

A second clause obliges the state to “endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”.

The government on Thursday passed a motion to delete this “outdated” provision.

2¢

Article

Read Full Article

NEWS

Date