People Before Profit have organised a jam-packed online meeting for International Women’s Day (Monday, March 8th) at 7.30pm. Speakers from diverse backgrounds will be discussing their experience of the Pandemic at a meeting entitled ‘Women on the Frontlines’. It will feature Brid Smith TD alongside a student nurse and speakers from Roots in Africa, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland and the Sex Workers Alliance. Cllr Adrienne Wallace was invited to speak on the panel due to her work on the campaign for a women’s refuge and on raising awareness about domestic violence.
Cllr Wallace said “International Women’s Day arose from the International Socialist movement nearly 100 years ago. We want to pay homage to the radical tradition that is still calling for full equality for women and the dismantlement of a sexist system. The huge spike in domestic violence during the lockdown highlights how unsafe it still is for many women, even in our own homes. We will in a society that consistently objectifies and belittles women, as such many get the message that we are their emotional or physical punchbags. Not only do we need to continue to have a robust education system that tackles these issues we need to fight for proper funding of support services.”
Cllr Wallace added “The government are only paying lip-service to women in this country when it comes to tackling domestic violence and sexual assault. As it stands Ireland is already below the adequate number of refuges as outlined in the Istanbul Convention, something we are all too aware of in Carlow. The reality is the government have still not reinstated the amount they took in cuts from this sector during the recession, despite the surge in violence against women. We need to use International Women’s day to demand greater investment in support services and to start the conservations about how we can create a system that offers genuine equality for women.”