EDITORAL: People want action and change, not symbolism and recognition

By the time you read this, the verdict will be in on last Friday’s referenda.

Everybody was talking about them, and nobody understood them. So now that the voting is over and decisions made, it’s time to consider some lessons from the haphazard campaign.

The first is that we need to think beyond symbolic progress and toward real change. The women in the home language is and was sexist, there is no doubt, but did it have any real life consequences? And does removing it really make any difference in the lives of women in Ireland today?

Language aside, women are still responsible for the majority of household duties. Noteworthy reported on International Women’s Day that Ireland has almost three times as many rape victims than the EU average. That is still gendered violence.

And let’s not even talk about the gender pay gap. Now, things have improved of course. For the longest time, people couldn’t even talk about gender issues. But did these referenda address any of the gender -based issues in Irish society?

Maybe what people need is not recognition or awareness raising, but action. And that is possible. It was the whole point of the citizen’s assembly. The assembly whose recommendation on constitutional language was quickly ignored when the opportunity for a month-worth of political photo ops came up.

The symbolism of the referendum being held on International Women’s Day was lost on nobody. But rather than it being an Irish flag planted on new-ground in equality, it came off as a cheap marketing ploy.

The second lesson is one around communication.

Everyone had questions, and nobody had answers. People need to know the consequences of their votes to be able to make informed decisions.

What is the difference between “endeavour to” and “strive to”?

Will this take away anybody’s rights or entitlements?

Communication seems to be one of the weakest points of our Government. Whether it is action on hospitals, accommodation of asylum seekers or changes to the constitution, they don’t seem to be able to tell us exactly what they are doing.

And as we have seen, that confusion does have some serious, real-world, material consequences.