Ireland

Religious Beliefs

The majority of Irish people are Roman Catholic, although the rates of people practicing their faith have significantly declined in recent years, particularly in the wake of several sexual and child abuse scandals. The Catholic Church has direct control over the majority of schools and hospitals in Ireland and indirect control over social policy. The role the Catholic Church has played in social life has had a significant impact on the status of women. Traditional gender stereotyping is embedded in the Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann), which makes specific mention of women's role as mothers and the state's responsibility to protect and enable mothers to engage in duties within the home.

A 1983 amendment to the Constitution provides an equal right to life for both the unborn and the pregnant woman. Abortion was already a criminal offense under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. Currently, abortion may only be performed in Ireland where a continuation of pregnancy poses a “real and substantial” risk to the life, as opposed to the health, of the pregnant woman. The lack of legal clarity or medical guidelines means that many doctors will not perform an abortion in any case, and many women are forced to travel abroad.

Women's Movement

The women's movement in Ireland has played a significant role in transforming public opinion on women's [Page 772]social roles and reforming discriminatory legislation, for example, in relation to illegitimacy, access to contraception, removal of a marriage bar in the public service, access to information about legal abortion in other countries and the right to travel to obtain an abortion, and the legalization of divorce. Membership in the European Union (EU) has also had an impact on legislative and policy reform, especially in relation to antidiscrimination, as membership requires compliance with EU Directives.

Despite several policy initiatives promoting equality in recent years, including the Equal Status Act of 2000 and the National Women's Strategy, women still experience discrimination on a variety of fronts in Irish society. On average, women outperform men in education but are at greater risk of poverty, particularly women in vulnerable groups such as single parents, rural women, older women, Traveller and immigrant women, and women with disabilities. Approximately 40 percent of women have experienced sexual abuse or violence. Lack of access to quality healthcare and an unequal distribution of caring responsibilities also negatively affect women's opportunities.

...