‘What benefit is it’ to delete ‘woman’ and ‘mother’?
Countering claims of sexism and asserting the “role of mothers should continue to be cherished in our constitution,” the Irish bishops dismiss the notion that the current wording states that “a woman’s place is in the home.”
Instead, they argue, it is “reasonable to ask what benefit is it to Irish society to delete the terms ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ from the Constitution of Ireland?”
For supporters of the change, such as academic Caitriona Beaumont, the benefit is the removal of Ireland’s Catholic heritage. The professor of social history at London South Bank University wrote on Feb. 2: “If Ireland is to fully shake off the shackles of its Catholic past and achieve its ambition to be a modern and progressive nation, then Article 41.2 must be consigned to the annals of history.”
As supporters of the current wording point out, however, surveys have shown that almost two out of three Irish mothers would prefer to stay at home to raise their children, given the choice.
“The present constitutional wording does not in any way inhibit women from working or taking their proper place in social and public life,” the bishops note. “It does, however, respect the complementary and distinct qualities that arise naturally within the family.”
Care in or outside the home?
The Irish bishops note a further concern: “People generally recognize the enormous commitment that women in Ireland have given, and continue to give, in relation to care, love, and affection in the home.”
With the proposed changes, however, the home will also be removed from the article in the Irish Constitution.
Writing in the European Conservative, Dualta Roughneen noted: “The implications are unclear; but in a society that increasingly outsources care to institutions — whether children, the elderly, or the infirm — it will remove any constitutional preference for care in the home.”
Concluding their statement, the Irish bishops remind the faithful of the words of St. John Paul II, who said in Ireland in 1979: “The future of the Church, the future of humanity depend in great part on parents and on the family life that they build in their homes. The family is the true measure of the greatness of a nation, just as the dignity of man is the true measure of civilization.”
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