Bríd Smith links violence against women to profit-driven system
Bríd Smith addressed violence against women in Ireland and globally, arguing the problem is rooted in a profit-driven system and fuelled by cultural factors including pornography and inadequate education. She highlighted shortages in refuges and housing, marked the anniversary of Oranzetig Serendorj, and criticised long delays on the second Savvy report.
Global scope of violence against women
She cited UN statistics that one in three women worldwide experience sexual or physical violence, mostly by an intimate partner, that fewer than 40% of women who experience violence seek help, and that 42% experience intimate partner violence and report an injury as a consequence.
Housing and refuges crisis
She described gaps in refuge spaces and linked the housing crisis to violence against women, calling homelessness a form of state violence. She noted that roughly 40% of women in homeless accommodation have suffered physical abuse and raised the question why this persists.
Cultural drivers and education
She argued the root causes include a system that has for generations confined women to unpaid caring roles and denied their human uniqueness. She quoted journalist Fiona Vera Gray on how women's humanity is undermined and urged non-ethos-based sex education in schools to change attitudes among boys and men.
Pornography and media influence
She warned that the pornography industry increasingly features violent content and cited a recent claim that traffic to porn-streaming sites exceeds monthly traffic to Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. She said cultural depictions that eroticise coercion or non-consent contribute to sexual aggression.
Government action and the second Savvy report
She criticised past government inaction and recalled a 2017 reply from a predecessor, Frances Fitzgerald, about commissioning the second Savvy report. She said initial scoping was reportedly discussed years ago, but the report is still long overdue — described in her remarks as almost 18 or almost 20 years late — and she pressed the House for an explanation.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I understand this session is about violence against women in Ireland, but I think we have to acknowledge that this is a worldwide experience. UN stats show us that one in three women worldwide experience some sort of sexual or physical violence, mostly, again, in line with the stats here, by an intimate partner. Fewer than 40% of women who experience violence seek help of any sort, and 42% of women experience intimate partner violence. and report an injury as a consequence of that violence. That is the parameters in which we are having this debate today. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Oranzetig Serendorj, and I hope I have pronounced that noble woman's name right, a migrant worker from Mongolia who lost her life on her way home from work cleaner in a bank, a mother of two, and I think it is worth mentioning her name here today. I also went into it this morning, but the details around the lack of spaces and refuges, but also the housing crisis itself. There are many forms of violence against women, and the lack of housing, homelessness is also a form of state violence against women, and indeed there is something like 40% of women who are in homeless accommodation have suffered physical abuse. And we have to ask ourselves, and we have to ask ourselves if that is a global figure, if that is a global picture, why is it happening? And I just want to quickly say that I believe that this is rooted in the system of profit, the system that for generations, for hundreds of years, has insisted and set the demarcation in society, that women stay at home, they breathe the children, then they wear them, they do all the caring work, and then they stay at home, making sure that those children are socialised, fed, and ready to become the next generation. And that is what has put women for thousands of years into the dark without being recognised as unique human beings. I want to quote from a journalist called Fiona Vera Gray in The Guardian, where she says, We live in a world where women's humanity is constantly undermined, where what we look like is more important than what we do, and where what is done to us is more important than who we are. Research on men's sexual aggression has shown that the denial of women's human uniqueness is a driving factor for some men who commit violent and sexual offences. And I think for that reason, I really want to push the question of education and non ethos based sex education in our schools, it must be of that nature. Otherwise, we are not going to rear a generation of men and boys and indeed girls who understand that uniqueness of human beings. There is also then the question of why it is that women's bodies, women's shapes, women's images are used to make vast amounts of money. The pornographic industry is one of the most lucrative businesses on the planet. Indeed, there is a fact here that was published recently that the traffic of those accessing porn on the internet, and it has to be said that increasingly, pornography on the internet involving women is more and more violent and more and more deadly in certain circumstances. But the traffic of that access from sites that stream it is more per month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. That is a startling statistic and reflects so badly on the world we live in, a world which does undermine women's humanity. So the question of culture is a big part of it here, and non consent of women is seen by some as titlavating, as attractive, as a barrier to be overcome, as a challenge. Coercion is often seen as being sexy, and the brutality of that cannot be overstated. So we will not just change the minds of men by talking about it, we will change it by starting at root and branch causes of it. I would like to finish finally on the role of this House, because you cannot exonerate the past government for failure in this area. And it was mentioned in the newspapers this week, and I myself mentioned it several times in the last stall. What has happened with the second Savvy report? Your predecessor, Frances Fitzgerald, answered me in November 2017, when I asked her, can she lean on the Taoiseach to spend the money to produce the second Savvy report? And she said, we need macro information on sexual and domestic violence in this country. The matter was discussed at Cabinet today. The initial scoping has begun to determine how precisely that can be carried out. That's five years ago almost. And the report itself is almost 18 years or almost 20 years overdue. So how does your side of the House explain the inadequacies in dealing with this problem if you can't even produce a report? Do you have a report? .
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
