Women’s Rights and CEDAW

Published: Friday, October 14, 2016

“We should not pose a question ‘what can this treaty [CEDAW] do for women in Ireland and everywhere else’ but reverse it and ask ourselves ‘what do we plan to do with this Convention in order to fully explore its potential and close the gap between non-discrimination and gender equality norms and practice’.” 6 October 2016, Violeta Neubauer, independent women’s human rights and gender equality expert.

On the 6th of October NWCI held a one day event entitled ‘Women’s Rights and CEDAW, the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women’. CEDAW, often described as an international ‘Bill of Rights’ for women, was adopted and ratified by Ireland in 1985, thereby committing the Irish State to taking concrete steps to improve the status of women in Irish society by promoting laws, policies and attitudes that best serve to ensure women are guaranteed the same rights as men. In 2017, Ireland will be examined under CEDAW for the first time in over ten years.

The purpose of the event was to emphasize the importance of CEDAW, its relationship to Ireland and the women’s movement as well as highlighting the practical ways it can be harnessed for campaigning and lobbying work. During the morning seminar, Violeta Neubauer, independent women’s human rights and gender equality expert from Slovenia, and former member of the CEDAW Committee from 2007 to 2014 conveyed how the Convention ensures that the relationship between the State and women is no longer one of the dependency of women on the good will or vagaries of the State, but one in which the State has responsibilities to women from which it cannot withdraw. Dr. Patricia Conlan, chair of the Feminism and International Law Committee of the International Law Association commented on some contemporary developments in relation to the Convention. In particular her speech focused on stereotyping, women in power and decision-making and gender responsive budgeting. Finally Sinéad Lucey, Managing Solicitor FLAC (the Free Legal Advice Centres), gave a detailed account of how Conventions as such CEDAW can be harnessed to raise the profile of our domestic situation on an international level.

The second part of the day was a round table event designed to obtain attendees reactions to the official State Report to the CEDAW Committee, as submitted on 15th of September. It was also an important opportunity to highlight any issues that attendees or their organisations would like to see reflected in NWCI’s Shadow Report to the CEDAW Committee.  NWCI’s Shadow Report is designed to highlight issues not raised by the State or to point out where the Government may be focusing on achievements while minimising or neglecting failings.  Information gathered at the event will be crucial to forming the basis of our Shadow Report and ensuring that our members and women throughout Ireland engage directly with the Convention.

As part of our commitment to our national members the seminar was livestreamed, and a video of the seminar will be available on our YouTube channel in the coming days. NWCI would also like to take this opportunity to thank NWCI member the Irish Women Lawyers’ Association for their support.

Group members attending the event included Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, National Traveller’s Forum, Soroptism Ireland, Waking the Feminists, Rape Crisis Network, Labour Women, ASTI, Early Childhood Ireland, Cork Sexual Violence, Immigrant Council, Pavee Point, NUI Maynooth and I Smile Migrant Group, Women’s Aid, Cairde and Symantec Technology Women's Network. 

Here is what some of our members said: 

“I really enjoyed myself. It is fascinating learning about the Irish system and I was really impressed by the level of cooperation and cohesiveness I saw at the event. Not to mention being able to meet some truly inspiring people.” Seven Victor from Wexford

“Spent a great day volunteering at the #CEDAW event with a fantastic crew of women from NWCI. The positivity and commotion was a real breath of fresh air! I met so many interesting women & groups working for real change in women's lives." Veronica Arenas Marshall, Symantec Technology Women’s Network.

If you have any queries regarding our CEDAW work please contact Denise Roche at deniser@nwci.ie