Sexism and Gender Inequality in Ireland.

Written in 2011 as an essay. 

I decided to pick this topic as the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s day was just a few weeks ago. The weeklong event raised some important questions and proved that sexism is still a problem and quite prevalent in Irish and international society even in the year 2011.


All one has to do is to look at the heads of schools in UCD, the shafting of Joan Burton on the government panel and the recent threatening of rape as a joke by Gardai to see sexism is what holds women back. There are some obvious facts to point out in relation to gender inequality in Ireland today. It’s no secret that women are more likely to be accused of promiscuous behaviour, more chance of being a victim of sexual assault, less likely to enter political office (15% of TDs in Dail Eireann are women), more likely to fear walking home at night and it is very likely for women to be afraid to enter their own home. “National Research by the National Crime Council found that 1 in 7 women have experienced severe abusive behaviour of a physical, sexual or emotional nature from a partner at some times in their lives. The survey estimates that 213,000 women in Ireland have been severely abused by a partner”. (Domestic Abuse of Women and Men in Ireland: Report on the National Study of Domestic Abuse, National Crime Council and ERSI, 2005).

Myth-busting Lies about Immigrants.

(From 2009)

Every now and then someone will try and tell me an urban legend or a myth about refugees, asylum seekers or migrant families and workers and often these rumours are egged on by false media reports and either bias or sloppy journalism. People are angry and need to voice their anger but this doesn’t always go in the right direction and often the finger is pointed at people who are not from here as it’s a scapegoat for the pent up tension in society.

However I am not claiming that people who say these things are just ignorant or uneducated. I think the routes of racism are much more societal and are about the scarcity of resources and people being pitched against each other to fight for these resources. Most people I feel are actually against racism they just do not tend to know the facts, they just know they are defending the right people. The route of racism is a very interesting topic and it stems from a socio-historical analysis of slavery, imperialism, persecution and war. However that is another day’s work; what I want to do here is simply dispel those rotten myths and lies we often hear on the bus, in the post office or wherever.