Statement on No Woman Left Behind rally

Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2022

The National Women’s Council is organising a protest rally to bring together women from across Ireland on the key issues women face. We believe this is a crucial time for the Government to listen to what women have to say.

Women remain the carers in Ireland with minimal shift in our culture of care, our childcare costs are among the highest in Europe, and lone parents, the majority of whom are women, are most impacted by the housing crisis and are the group most at risk of deprivation.

Meanwhile, we continue to battle the interference of the Catholic Church in our reproductive healthcare and the future of our new national maternity hospital. Violence against women is an epidemic.

A strong and independent civil society is of vital importance to our democracy.

While we acknowledge that not everyone agrees with everything NWC is calling for at our rally, singling out individual staff members is inappropriate and unfair. 

The National Women’s Council are mandated to represent the views of our members across Ireland to achieve true equality for women and girls.Our members have voted at our AGMs for our positions on childcare, on the National Maternity Hospital, on women in leadership, on pensions, on reproductive rights and the need for investment in public services that we are highlighting at the rally and every day as part of our work. These domains for action are also clearly outlined in our Strategic Plan 2020-2024.

NWC's  work involves bringing people together and working alongside Government but sometimes it also includes protest and calling out Government inaction.

We engage with Government politicians every day and have had numerous events every year in NWC where Government Ministers are opening the event and Government TDs and Senators were speaking on panels.

This is one moment of protest and we hope all politicians, including those representing Government parties, attend and hear what needs to change for women.

More information about the event can be found here

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Notes:

The National Women’s Council is the leading national representative organisation for women and women’s groups in Ireland, founded in 1973. We have over 190 member groups and a large and growing community of individual supporters.The ambition of the National Women’s Council is an Ireland where every woman enjoys true equality and no woman is left behind. This ambition shapes and informs our work, and, with our living values, how we work. We are a movement-building organisation rooted in our membership, working on the whole island of Ireland. We are also part of the international movement to protect and advance women’s and girls’ rights. Our purpose is to lead action for the achievement of women’s and girls’ equality through mobilising, influencing, and building solidarity.