Kathleen Funchion: Calls for Gender-Focused COVID Recovery and Pay Equality

Thanks, Laskian Comhairle. First of all, given that we're on the subject of women, I'd like to start by acknowledging yourself as our first ever female, Laskian Comhairle, and I think it's an important role and certainly not an easy task, not one that I envy. So just to say that, firstly, I was thinking about that as we were speaking here. Women in general, I think, play a crucial role, not only in their communities, but in every household. I would imagine that everyone, or most people would agree that women really are the backbone of many households and communities, and this is, I suppose, has been showing up even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. And we know that integrating gender-focused government policy and a focus on women's self-reliance and empowerment leads to better humanitarian outcomes for all and it leads to a better society. A recent research report by UN Women found that when women are provided with direct financial or resource assistance, they enjoyed greater control over household spending decisions and improved results for all family members. It found the benefits of gender-focused action by industry and government far outweigh the cost. Ironically, 2020 was the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, which is out to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere in the interest of all humanity. However, what unfolded due to the pandemic, unfortunately, was a deepening of pre-existing inequalities. Women's workloads, I think increased, not only are mainly our frontline workers women, but also, as I think even mentioned by some of the ministers, the issue of the homeschooling and childcare burden, in general, falls to women, and greater so during the pandemic. There are endless reports, research papers, books, and academic research into inequality among men and women. And whilst many of these examine historical and continual inequality across society, there is growing consensus that greater gender equality has taken a big step back during the pandemic. Women, due to their high numbers in caring and nursing roles, are suffering the effects of what they call long COVID at a greater rate than men. And a recent report suggested that 76% of our healthcare workers are women. It is clear that women are at an increased risk of infection and loss of livelihood, and existing trends suggest that they have less access to health supports. And the rise in domestic violence, which we have spoken about a number of times in this chamber during the public health crisis, is extremely worrying. Women who are struggling living in unbearable domestic violence situations or in an environment of severe coercive control, are doubly affected as all normal social outlets have been closed. I've also been alarmed by the impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions it's having on women who are caring for vulnerable children and children with additional needs. And I'm glad to hear that that was mentioned as well in the minister's speech. They've carried an unbearable burden during the lockdown. An interesting study was carried out recently by BMJ Global Health into how various leaders around the world have responded to the pandemic. In particular, they looked at the different approach men and women leaders took. The results found, which would not be a surprise to any woman, that female leaders were really aware that talking about a wider range of impacts on social welfare, mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence within the context of the public health emergency. And as the end, hopefully the end of COVID is in sight, we must be cognizant that any recovery must lead to a more equal Ireland, and an Ireland that is more resilient to future crisis. Government policy and future emergency measures must address public health gender gaps. And it is crucial that all policy responses place women and girls, their inclusion, representation, rights, social and economic outcomes, equality and protection at the heart of our policy response. Going forward, women's equal representation and all public health emergency response, planning and decision-making must be paramount. And a priority for government must be that we address the inequality of pay in the care economy. One sector in which women fill the majority of roles is the childcare and early years sector. And I have consistently called for equality of pay and better working conditions for these professionals. I strongly believe that COVID-19 has not only been a challenge for our healthcare system, but also a test for us as a wider society. Our future response will be significantly weakened if we do not factor in the ways in which inequalities have made all of us more vulnerable to the impacts of the public health emergency. And what we cannot choose is to simply repeat past policies and fail to use this moment to rebuild a more equal, inclusive and resilient society for all. So just to finish up, I would just say I really hope that we do learn something that, you know, if anything positive is to come from COVID, that we do learn. I mean, I think we have seen, you know, a greater awareness now maybe of domestic violence and what potential supports are there, but they do need to be supported into the future. And in general, we need to look at how, I suppose, unequal our society is and ensure that we are, you know, when making policies that gender equality is at the heart of that, you know, and not to be paying lip service to it. It was mentioned, I think, by Minister Rabbit. It's very difficult for women to make it into this forum, it can be very difficult to even make it into local politics, let alone, say, national politics, and to actually stay involved as well. So it's really important that we actually have these ongoing discussions and that it's not just, you know, because we're all thinking of International Women's Day, that it's a tick the box. You know, I am thinking it's the very last, one of the last agenda items on a Thursday evening. And, you know, you have to wonder how important it really is, even though it is extremely important, but it's important that it's not just, we've had that discussion now and we all move on, that we actually do learn, not just from our own discussions, but from all of the negatives of COVID-19 and how it's shown, how unequal it really is for women out there, particularly low paid sector and those on the front line. Gaur Maga. Gaur Maga.