Ireland Votes on 'Women in the Home' Referendum

Facts

• On Friday — International Women's Day — Ireland held twin referendums to amend its 87-year-old constitution and remove the language of Article 41.2, which refers to the definition of family and women's role in the home.¹
• The first referendum addresses a section of text that states that marriage is the basis 'on which the family is founded.' A yes vote would replace the wording with a clause that expands the definition of family to be founded 'on marriage or other durable relationships.'²
• The second referendum would remove a reference to women's role in the home as a 'key support to the state,' delete a statement that states 'mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home,' and add a clause saying the state will strive to support 'the provision of care by members of a family to one another.'³
• Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had announced the referendums on March 8, 2023, with all Irish citizens 18 and older — or about 3.3M people — eligible to vote. Polls closed at 10 pm local time, with the results of the vote expected by late Saturday.⁴

Sources: ¹Euronews, ²Al Jazeera, ³PBS NewsHour and ⁴Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The New York Times. The Irish constitution was written when the Catholic Church still greatly influenced the country's government. Thus, it references some opinions that are no longer reconcilable with the progressive society of modern Ireland. Statements in the constitution containing sexist and outdated language should be changed to meet the times.
• Narrative B, as provided by France 24. Changing the language of the Irish constitution may have unintended consequences. The vague language proposed to replace the statements about women in the home removes the government's responsibility to provide for caregivers, the vast majority of whom are women. While making the statement more gender-neutral would be fine, the amendment's language must retain the text's original meaning.
• Narrative C, as provided by Washington Post. Ireland is already an extremely progressive country, ranked among the best in the world regarding gender equality. While the sentiment of changing the constitution to be more inclusive is nice, it's just semantics. Holding the vote on International Women's Day just contributes to the feeling that these proposed amendments are more of a tokenistic gimmick than anything else.

Predictions