On 25 September 2023, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (‘IHREC’) published a report entitled ‘Ireland and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’ to assist a UN committee in its review of Ireland’s performance on gender equality.
The independent report submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the ‘Committee’) is designed to aid the Committee “in advance of its forthcoming examination of Ireland’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. The report acknowledges that there has been “positive developments since 2017” in the field of gender equality in Ireland, and welcomes changes such as the enactment of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and the Domestic Violence Act 2018. However, the report also highlights IHREC’s view that the State’s various strategies and action plans “do not adequately improve rights protections for communities in practice, due to insufficient monitoring and implementation”.
The report details a range of areas of concern, including domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (‘DSGBV’) against women, the trafficking and exploitation of women, women’s participation in public and cultural life, women’s access to health services, education, and employment, and the particularly detrimental impact of climate change on women. The report also places a particular focus on disadvantaged groups of women, namely rural women, women in international and temporary protection, disabled women, Traveller and Roma women, and women in detention.
IHREC puts forth a number of recommendations for the Committee in the report. Among them is a recommendation that the Committee ask the State about “the level and content of training provided to frontline workers across the Health Service Executive, Tusla, An Garda Síochána and other public bodies to increase awareness and understanding of DSGBV”. The report also recommends that the Committee should ask the State to provide information on the measures it has taken to address “the chronic lack of safe and appropriate accommodation for female victims of trafficking”. The Committee is encouraged to ask the State to “provide information on extending gender quotas to local elections”, and the report recommends that the State be asked for information on “the timeline for developing and publishing the National Traveller Education Strategy”. On the matter of climate change, the report notes that the Committee “should ask the State to address the measures it is taking to assess and address the impact of climate change on women and girls in Ireland”.
Speaking on the publication of the report, IHREC Chief Commissioner Sinéad Gibney noted that the report “highlights the broad spectrum of current equality challenges facing women across workplaces, politics, health, representation and broader society and it makes clear recommendations for progressive action”. The Chief Commissioner further noted that the report will “independently inform the UN questioning of Ireland”.
Click here for the IHREC report entitled ‘Ireland and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’ and click here for the IHREC press release on the publication of the report.