Senator Sharon Keogan has hit out at a United Nations Committee for urging Ireland to hold another referendum on women in the home during an address at a UN forum held in New York. The Senator called for a renewed focus on biological sex-spaced rights, which she said have been “overshadowed by ideological frameworks that conflate sex and gender identity.”
The event was organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – an organization of national parliaments that works closely with the United Nations (UN) – which allows it to contribute a parliamentary perspective to UN discussions and processes.
The Meath Senator attended the Forum on sustainable development as part of Ireland’s national delegation, entitled Gender Equality and Health: Fast Forwarding Progress, which took place on Wednesday. The Parliamentary Forum focused on a number of areas, including gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, and heard from parliamentary representatives from around the world.
The Independent politician used her speaking time to highlight remarks made at a United Nations’ panel earlier this month. In a report published at the start of July, the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) expressed disappointment with the failure of the referendum on women in the home, held in March 2024, to pass while suggesting that the Irish Government should not give up on the issue. The committee called on the Government to assess the reasons for the referendum’s failure, adding that it should find alternative wording in order to run another vote on it.
The Irish people strongly and decisively rejected both proposals put forward by the government to amend the Constitution to change provisions relating to the family based on marriage and the value of work done by mothers at home in 2024.
Senator Sharon Keogan, was one of a handful of independent Senators and TDs who had campaigned for a NoNo vote, and described the result as a “landslide” – saying at the time that the people of Ireland had given the government and opposition a “walloping”.
Speaking today in New York, Senator Keogan said: “I wish to raise a matter of concern regarding the direction of international gender policy and its implication for national sovereignty and women’s rights. Recently, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) issued a recommendation that Ireland should revisit and potentially rehold a referendum on Article 41.2 of our Constitution – the so-called Women in the Home clause.
“This recommendation comes despite the Irish people having already rejected such a constitutional amendment by over 70% in a democratic vote in [2024]. “
She continued: “The Committee has called for a revelation and renewed referendum [which] risks undermining the legitimacy and the democratic outcomes and the principles of national self-determination. While I support the advancement of women’s rights, I believe it is essential to respect the cultural and the conditional frameworks of our nations. The origins clause was intended to recognise the value of care work; not diminish women’s roles.”
She also urged the Inter-Parliamentary Union to send a message to the UN, as she called for a “renewed focus on biological sex-spaces rights.”
“I urge the IPU to convey to the United Nations that pressuring sovereign States to rerun referendums when a preferred outcome is not achieved is not consistent with democratic principles. Furthermore, I call for a renewed focus on biological sex-spaced rights, which are increasingly being overshadowed by ideological frameworks that conflate sex and gender identity. Let us ensure that gender equality efforts remain grounded in biological reality, and that women’s rights are not diluted in the name of inclusivity,” Senator Keogan said.
In its remarks earlier this month, the UN body penned:
“The committee recommends that the State party conduct an independent evaluation of the referendum, carry out information campaigns on the negative reinforcement by article 41.2 of gender stereotypes about women’s roles in the home and undertake inclusive public consultations to find alternative wording with a view to holding another constitutional referendum on amending article 41.2 of the Constitution to remove the stereotypical language on the role of women in the home.”
As reported by Ben Scallan, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said there is “absolutely no intention” of re-running the Family and Care referendums, despite a call from a United Nations committee to do so.
Speaking to Gript, the Fine Gael leader said the Government would not revisit the issue under any circumstances.
“We absolutely will not be doing that,” he said.
“The UN is perfectly entitled to their opinion. The opinion that matters much more to me is the opinion of the people of Ireland. They gave a resounding decision on that last year. We have absolutely no intention of revisiting it at all. I certainly don’t.”