International Women’s Day 2010

Published: Monday, March 08, 2010

The poorest people in Ireland today are older women, Sylvia Meehan, president of the Senior Citizens Parliament told a conference organised by the National Women's Council of Ireland to celebrate International Women's Day. 'These women gave their lives to rearing the next generation. Now they have to listen to people issuing dire warnings about a demographic time bomb.'

Ms Meehan said that as the oldest person in the room, she had learned that Irish society was hypocritical about women's rights. 'We were greeted as if we were a comic turn back in the seventies,' she said. 'We've made some progress but not enough. The heart of the matter is we need to get women into political power.' She was applauded by the crowd, mostly of women, who had come from all over Ireland to fill European Union House to capacity.

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Alwiye Xuseyn from the migrant women's group, AkiDwaA, told the large audience that women who came to Ireland to seek refuge were suffering mentally and physically in direct provision. 'They are being forced into unpaid labour, labour for less than half the minimum wage, and into prostitution. It is well known that you can get domestic staff from hostels and pay them for next to nothing.'

The youngest speaker, Linda Kelly, equality officer with the Union of Students of Ireland, said that many students say they believe in equality but they don't know what it is. 'Young men don't realise that there is a connection between making sexist comments in the workplace and inequality,' she said. 'They make comments about women's appearance, how big their boobs are, and talk about the porn they saw at the weekend. They make jokes about rape. Women are silenced by this behaviour and it leads to inequality continuing.' She urged young women to stand up for their rights and get involved in feminist activities.

The young British author, Kat Banyard, highlighted the booming global sex industry as a major new threat to women's safety and equality. She spoke of 'an epidemic of body hatred among women and an astronomic rise in cosmetic surgery.' Pornography was widely accessible. Susan McKay, director of the National Women's Council, who chaired the meeting, urged women to join the organisation. 'That is how we can have a strong voice representing the women of Ireland.'