Tag Archives: equality

Minister Shatter welcomes Working Group Report on the establishment of the new, enhanced Human Rights and Equality Commission

Posted on by corkfeminista

The Minister for Justice and Equality and Defence, Mr. Alan Shatter T.D., today (20 April 2012) welcomed the report of the Working Group on the establishment of the new, enhanced Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).  The Report which was presented by the Group to the Minister yesterday will be published today (Friday 20th April 2012).    The Working Group was established in October 2011 to advise the Minister on practical arrangements in relation to the merger of the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority, including issues in relation to powers and functions for the new body and other issues to be addressed in the legislation to give effect to the merger. 

The Minister thanked the Working Group, chaired by Mr. Michael Whelan, for its detailed examination of the issues. He also expressed his appreciation for the many suggestions and views contributed by members of the public and representatives from civil society which assisted the working group in their work.   Following a public invitation, the Group received a total of 69 submissions from the public.  These were considered by the Group and informed its deliberations.

In welcoming the formal presentation of the Working Group’s report today, the Minister said “I want to acknowledge the comprehensive and diligent way in which the Group’s members have gone about their work.  I am delighted to receive the Report of the Group.  I will read it carefully and bring my detailed proposals for legislation to give effect to the merger to Government in the coming weeks.  While I haven’t yet studied the Report in detail and my colleagues in Government will also need an opportunity to consider it carefully, I can say that on a first reading it gives me a comprehensive and coherent package of recommendations that meet my key objective of creating a new and strengthened human rights and equality body, drawing from the strengths and best practices of both existing bodies and delivering a levelling up of powers and functions.  The recommendations in this Report will ensure that Ireland’s infrastructure to promote and protect human rights and equality is strengthened and capable of operating in a strategic, effective way.”

The Minister also expressed his appreciation for the work carried out to date by the staff, Boards and Commissioners of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission, past and present. Each agency in its own right has made a significant contribution to developing equality of opportunity and respect for human rights in Irish society. He looks forward to the coming together of this body of expertise in the new Commission and the new synergies that will result.

The Minister noted the group’s assessment of the importance to the new Commission of having a strong strategic focus and the recommendation that it should take particular care to ensure that its resources are directed with clear strategic purposes. The Group concludes that success of the new IHREC will be measured, not by the number of legal cases taken, but by their impact in promoting its strategic goals.

The report of the Working Group on the establishment of the new, enhanced Human Rights and Equality Commission is available on the following Department of Justice and Equality websites (www.justice.ie, www.upr.ie).

20 April 2012 

 

 

How to elect more women

Posted on by corkfeminista

Just a post to let you know that Minister Kathleen Lynch’s conference on How to Elect More Women has opened for registration as of today –  registration form below.

The conference takes place in Dublin Castle on Friday 20 January, with registration opening at 9am.  There is a full Programme planned for the day and I attach the Draft Programme for you.  It looks like it should be
a really interesting day with lots of discussion on the practical steps needed to get more women into politics.

Go to http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/WP12000002 for further information.

 

Conference Programme: 201201Gender Conference Programme (1)

Conference Registration Form: 201201Gender Conference Registration Form

 

Please share this post with anyone you know who has an interest in a more democratic political system. 

So we’ve achieved everything, have we?

Posted on by corkfeminista

The myth continues that women have achieved everything but these two videos should show you that it’s simply not true.

 

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook tells the story about women in decision making and why we’re not where we need to be and gives some advice about what we can do to be there and the second video from Amnesty International is a devastating portrayal of sexual violence and rape against women in Haiti.

 

Don’t just watch these videos, share them with your friends. Draw attention to what is happening to women across the world, in developed and developing societies. Don’t support the silence.

 

 

 

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. . . Wouldn’t it?

Posted on by corkfeminista

The famous line from Romeo and Juliet springs to mind now when I talk to my friends about feminism and what the word means. Some reject the word altogether saying it represents a movement that is not egalitarian and which seeks to promote women above and beyond men, whereas others identify with its broad aims and objectives but feel that the word is now too associated with negative images to be in any way productive for campaigning. Yet we see an increasing number of groups, for example Feminist Open Forum and the Irish Feminist Network who are proudly reclaiming the word and challenging the stereotypes. So who in all of this conjecture about what we should call ourselves when we mobilise for equality is right? Can we only achieve equality if we are feminists? Can we be for equality if we are not feminists? If we were to create a new word/slogan now what would it look like? What other word could we possibly use?Is it possible to reclaim words which are denigrated by mass media constantly?

Personally, I’ve been on a bit of a journey over the past three years from a place where I was a staunch anti-feminist to a place now where I’m setting up a feminist group…. Was there a light bulb moment? Yes, most definitely but that was only the beginning. Even as a confident feminist campaigner now I still have moments in the company of new people where I hesitate before naming myself as a feminist. The hesitation is usually accompanying by an intake of sharp breath and a squaring of the shoulders in order to prepare myself for what is coming next… one of the most recent comments was ‘feminists aren’t real people’. But yet I always name it, because it is important to break the stereotypes. As long as such negativity and ridicule is associated with feminism (the radical notion that women are people), a movement that organised for and won for women throughout the past few decades – how can women achieve equality?

And who wins if we change the name of our movement? How fast will it take for whatever new name we have to become the same object of derision that feminism currently takes? Because at the core of this issue is not the word feminism… is it what feminism represents – women agitating for change and for a better existence and not just agitating but winning. And this for me is the key. Feminism mobilised a generation of women to ask for more, to ask for a better life, to ask for equality and THEY WON! That is the power of a collective movement that we are now lacking because the divide and conquer reign of anti feminism has been hard at work. It is no surprise when you look at the history books that the ridiculing of feminism in the malestream media began after some of the biggest victories for women in the 1970′s to a place where now young women are conditioned to think that if they call themselves a feminist they will never be attractive to men and end up living on some sheep farm with hairy legs and stray cats.

We can win again… but what do we call ourselves to create that same collective movement that won before?

I call myself a feminist, what about you?