AN UPCOMING REFERENDUM on 8 March proposes to delete an Article in the Irish Constitution that refers to the role of women in the home.
If passed, the text would be replaced with non-gender specific language that would instead recognise care within the home and within the wider community. The proposal came after a recommendation by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality in 2020.
It has been claimed that if the referendum passes, it will remove references to women in the Irish Constitution. But is this actually the case?
Various individuals have encouraged people to vote against the proposed 40th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, claiming that a Yes vote would remove references to women from Bunreacht na hÉireann.
In a video post on X calling for a no vote in the upcoming referendum, Independent senator Sharon Keogan said: “Don’t let them erase us women from our constitution.”
Another independent senator, Ronan Mullan, also said on X that “everyone should be clear on what they are doing – proposing to remove the word ‘mother’ from the Constitution. Excising the word woman”.
President of the far-right Irish Freedom Party Hermann Kelly also said earlier this month that “the Government wants to ERASE women and mothers from our Constitution”.
On 8 March, the Government will hold two referendums proposing the 39th and 40th amendments to the Constitution. Although both of the changes would alter Article 41 of the Constitution, the claims about women only refer to the latter proposal.
The proposed 40th amendment would entirely remove Article 41.2 from the Irish Constitution. That article currently states:
The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.
It also says that:
The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.
If passed, the referendum would insert a new Article 42B which would recognise the provision of care from one family member to another.
At the time of writing, the specific wording of the new article has yet to be approved, but it has been well-flagged that it will be gender neutral.
The proposed constitutional amendment follows recommendations by a Constitutional Convention a decade ago and the subsequent Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality, which was held between 2020 and 2021.
The Constitutional Convention, which was brought together to consider several possible changes to the Constitution, first suggested amending Article 41.2 to make it gender neutral and to recognise the role of care in society.
Its final report, delivered in 2014, said that ”Article 41.2 (on the role of women) should be made gender-neutral to include other carers both ‘in the home’ and ‘beyond the home’”.
Possible changes to Article 41.2 were then considered by the Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality and further discussed at two hearings of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality on 16 February 2020, and on 13 February, 2021.
When listing its final recommendations, the assembly specifically said that:
Article 41.2 of the Constitution should be deleted and replaced with language that is not gender specific and obliges the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community.
The assembly’s final report, which can be read here, noted that an overwhelming number of members (94.4%) recommended changing Article 41.2 and that a slightly smaller number (84.3%) felt the Article should be deleted and replaced with a non-gender specific reference to care (as opposed to simply deleting it and not replacing it at all).
The Government subsequently used these recommendations as the basis for the referendum on the 40th Amendment to the Constitution.
By deleting Article 41.2 from Bunreacht na hÉireann, the proposed 40th Amendment clearly seeks to remove two references to women from the Constitution, by deleting:
In this sense, Independent senator Ronan Mullen was technically correct in claiming that the words ‘mother’ and ‘woman’ would be excised.
But what about claims by Hermann Kelly, Sharon Keogan and others that the proposed amendment would remove all references to women?
The Constitution contains a number of references to women outside of Article 41.
Article 45, which sets down constitutional principles of social policy, features the word “women” twice.
In the first instance, Article 45.2(i) says that the State must direct its policy towards securing that “citizens (all of whom, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood) may through their occupations find the means of making reasonable provision for their domestic needs”.
And Article 45.4.2° says that the State should “endeavour to ensure that the strength and health of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children shall not be abused and that citizens shall not be forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their sex, age or strength”.
Although Article 41.2 contains the only instances of the specific words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ in the Irish Constitution, they are not the only times that women are referenced.
It should be noted that the preamble to the Constitution contains many more references to men, in addition to those contained with Article 45.
The first words of the Constitution read: “In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred…”.
The preamble also refers to “our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial”.
Meanwhile, there are 28 instances of the words “Chairman” or “Deputy Chairman” – usually referring to the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Dáil – across Articles 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 27, 31, 33 and 35.
Article 34.6.1° contains an oath for judges, in which they must swear not to show any fear or favour, affection or ill-will towards any man”.
And Article 43.1.1° says that the State acknowledges that “man, in virtue of his rational being, has the natural right, antecedent to positive law, to the private ownership of external goods”.
But while references to women in the Constitution are much less frequent, they do feature outside of Article 41.2.
A number of individuals have claimed that the Government is seeking to “erase” women from the Irish Constitution.
The claims suggest that this will happen if a Yes vote is carried in the upcoming referendum on the 40th Amendment to the Constitution.
The referendum proposes deleting Article 41.2, which mentions a “woman” (in reference to her “life within the home”) and “mothers”; the article would be replaced by a new gender-neutral wording that recognises care within the home.
The current Article 41.2 contains the only instances of the specific words “woman” and “mother”, and these would be deleted from the Constitution if the referendum passes.
However, women are referenced elsewhere in the Constitution, specifically in Article 45 where the phrase “men and women” is mentioned twice.
We therefore rate the claim that the Government proposes to “erase” women from the Irish Constitution as FALSE. As per our verdict guide, this means the claim is inaccurate.
TheJournal.ie’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
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