Conference 2011 Agenda
LABOUR WOMEN NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Sat 12th November 2011
Final Agenda
- Political Reform
- Finance
- Justice & Equality
- Social Protection
- Education
- Health
- Foreign Affairs
Political Reform
- Composite motion 1
Labour Women welcome the Government’s plan to introduce legislation that would cut the state funding to political parties if they fail to put forward a third of women candidates in elections. This conference Labour Women calls on Labour Women Executive to promote the application of gender quotas in the candidate selection procedure in the next local authority and Dail election, regardless of the status of this legislation. Furthermore, in order to improve transparency in selection procedures we urge that constituency voting rules should state that only members who have attended a minimum of two branch or constituency meetings in the preceding year, will be eligible to vote at constituency selection conventions.
Proposed by : Dublin South Central
Bearing in mind the urgent need for more female representation in the Dáil, conference urges that a review of candidate selection procedures be undertaken with the aim of ensuring balanced gender representation in the electoral process.
Proposed by: Clare
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- Motion
Women’s Political Representation :
The Conference of Labour Women commends the actions taken by the Labour Party to date to improve the political representation of women in Ireland. However, the conference notes the democratic deficit which still exists in relation to the equal representation of women and urges the Party in government to step up its actions to remedy that deficit. In particular, the conference calls for targeted positive action to improve the political representation of disadvantaged women, including working class women, Traveller women, women from ethnic minority communities, lesbian women and young women. The conference asks that the Labour Women executive report back to the next Labour Women’s conference on measures taken in this regard and the outcomes of those measures.
Proposed by : Dublin North Central
- Motion
That Government Ministers (and all agencies receiving government monies, etc RTE) reappoint only (appropriately qualified) women to public bodies and public debates until gender balance is attained in the relevant body or panel.
Proposed by : Sligo / North Leitrim
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
ADD : after until ‘a minimum 40:60’ to read : ‘That Government Ministers (and all agencies receiving government monies, etc RTE) reappoint only (appropriately qualified) women to public bodies and public debates until a minimum 40:60 gender balance is attained in the relevant body or panel’
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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- Motion
This conference of Labour Women believes that Article 41.2 of the Irish constitution reflects an outdated concept of women’s work as being in the home.
We therefore call upon the Labour Women executive to lobby the government to ensure that the issue of updating the Constitution to reflect women's full participation in society by the removal of Article 41.2 is addressed by the Constitutional Convention and is included in any subsequent constitutional referendum.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
______________________________
- Motion
That this conference of Labour Women:
- Notes with concern that by the end of 2010 over 200,000 homeowners were in negative equity;
- Notes that a minimum of 10% of households with mortgages are currently facing significant difficulties with repayments, and that this proportion is likely to increase;
- Notes the high cost in personal suffering to individuals and families caused by increasing levels of significant mortgage arrears and by the threat of eventual repossession of homes;
- Further notes that “mortgage to rent” and “mortgage to shared equity” schemes have been established by the Scottish Government, as part of the Home Owner’s Support Fund, in response to the plight of distressed homeowners;
- Calls upon the Labour Women executive to work with Labour TDs and Senators to urge the Government to consider the establishment in Ireland of schemes to support distressed homeowners, adapted to the Irish context but similar to those set up in Scotland, which would provide structural measures for the protection of those individuals and families currently facing unaffordable mortgage repayments and the potential loss of their homes.
Proposed by : Dublin South East
______________________________
- Motion
This Conference of Labour Women:
- recognises that economic independence is at the heart of women’s empowerment;
- notes that the gender pay gap in Ireland has risen from 10.7% in 2007 to 14% in 2010;
- notes lower participation in the workforce by women;
- notes rising unemployment and greater job insecurity;
- notes that women are less likely to have pension provision;
And calls on the executive of Labour Women to highlight the severe challenges facing women during this economic crisis and to work with the Parliamentary Labour Party and relevant women’s organisations to further women’s equal access to economic well-being in Ireland.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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Justice
- Motion
This Conference of Labour Women notes with concern the recent reservations expressed by the Council of Europe relating to Ireland’s implementation to date of the decision in A, B and C v. Ireland (ECHR, December 2010).
This conference further notes the emphasis placed by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on “the importance of putting in place substantive measures to execute the judgment.”
This Conference firmly believes that the establishment of yet another ‘expert group’ does not go far enough to vindicate the human rights of Irish women as mandated by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in ABC.
Labour Women calls on the Labour Party in government to swiftly give effect to the constitutional right to abortion established by the Supreme Court 19 years ago in the X case and to establish a coherent legal framework including adequate services without further delay.
Proposed by : Dublin North Central
PROPOSED AMENDMENT :
ADD after last paragraph : ‘In the event that the expert group is established the Conference calls upon the Labour Ministers in Government to ensure the terms of reference include a time limit of 6 months for reporting.‘
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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- Motion
The Conference calls on Government to outlaw the increasing cases of marriages of convenience ‘ or ‘fake’ marriages. These are mainly taking place when men from outside the EU target women from the poorer countries of the EU, in order to stay in Ireland. These often vulnerable women then take an all the obligations of marriage, when divorce is hard to obtain, often ending up in harmful situations which affect their future.
Proposed by : Dun Laoghaire
______________________________
- Motion
That this conference of Labour Women calls on the Labour Women executive to:
- Continue to highlight the suffering to women and girls caused by involvement in prostitution and by human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation;
- Continue their support for the Turn of the Red Light Campaign, which highlights the link between demand for sexual services and the numbers of women and girls trafficked or becoming involved in prostitution;
- Lobby the government to bring in legislation which criminalises those who purchase sex whilst decriminalising the selling of sex.
Proposed by : Dublin South East
______________________________
- Motion
The Conference calls on Government to legislate quickly on Act similar to British Slaves and Servitudes Act 2010 over people being imprisoned against their will (in a domestic situation).
Proposed by : Dun Laoghaire
______________________________
- Motion
This Labour women's conference notes that women who spent time in Ireland’s Magdalene laundries endured institutional abuse, defined as wrongful and unlawful detention, inhuman and degrading treatment, and enforced labour and servitude.
This conference supports the “Justice for Magdalenes'(JFM)” campaign for justice for the women incarcerated in Magdalene laundries and for their families and calls on the Labour Party in government to deliver the following
- An official apology from the State and a personal apology from the respective religious congregations and the Irish Catholic hierarchy
- Reparation commensurate with the extent of the women’s experience of abuse at
commercial, for-profit, businesses. Lump sum compensation payment to be paid
directly to the women or their nominated representative(s) - A pension determined in accordance with the Irish state pension and inclusive of
years worked in the laundries - The return of all personal, medical, and detention records
- Entitlement to compensation determined solely on the basis of having spent time
in a Magdalene laundry
This conference also calls for the Labour Party to ensure that any redress scheme will NOT be included in any proposed extension of the Residential Institutions
Redress Act (2002) due to its judicial and adversarial nature. Such a process
would prove distressing and traumatic, especially in view of the women’s age
and experience.
Proposed by : Dublin North
______________________________
- Motion
Labour Women acknowledges the routine cruel and degrading treatment of unmarried women and girls in Ireland’s state sponsored but religious run Mother and Baby Homes, including but not limited to lack of medical care; poor nutrition; enforced manual labour, illegal vaccine trials and the forced adoption of the children born to them in those homes (culminating with 97% of all non-marital children being adopted in 1967).
This conference calls upon the Government to immediately
- seize and open all Mother and Baby Home care and medical files
- seize and open all illegal adoption files
- open all state held adoption files
- provide the same information and tracing services to 50,000+ adopted citizens of the Republic as have existed for decades in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain
- cease demonising adopted people for wishing to establish their families, identities, heritage and culture
With regard to the forced adoption of the children born in those homes, this conference calls upon the government to set-up a statutory enquiry similar to the Ryan and Murphy Reports to investigate and quantify the following and to put in place mechanisms to ensure no repetition
- The number and identities of women involved in forced adoptions in the Irish State from 1952 to date
- The number and identities of children (now adults) involved in illegal adoptions in the Irish State from 1952 to date
- The number and identities of children (now adults) trafficked to the US for adoption from 1952 to date
- The number and identities of children (now adults) involved in illegal vaccine trials
- The number, identities and cause of death of babies sent from Mother and Baby Homes for use in anatomical studies in various medical institutions
- The monies collected by religious orders for running Mother and Baby Homes be they state grants; “donations”; children’s allowances; the profits resulting from the labour of the women/girls in the homes
Where criminal activities are found to have occurred, this conference calls for swift and stringent criminal prosecutions.
Proposed by : Dublin North
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- Motion
Conference notes that because of the traditional historical “male breadwinner model” older Irish women are more at risk of poverty than older men, because they live longer there are more older women than men and that more of the carers of older people are women;
Conference calls on the Labour Women Executive to take an active part in ensuring that there is a gender sensitive perspective to Labour Party policy to promote equality, dignity and a decent quality of life for all Older People and their carers.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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- Motion
The Labour Women’s conference urges the Labour Party in government in its budget deliberations, to ensure that Children’s Allowance is not means tested.
Proposed by : Dublin Mid West
PROPOSED AMENDMENT :
REPLACE ‘Children’s Allowance’ with ‘Child Benefit’.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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- Motion
Labour Womennotes that many marriedwomenwho are part of unemployed do not sign on as there is no obvious incentive for them to do so as they are considered qualified adults on their husbands’ claim
Labour Womenbelieves that ultimately social welfare individualisation should be introduced by the state so thatwomenare no longer seen as dependents and their choice to have a career is considered equally valid to that of men in terms of contributions to the household budget
Labour Womenhowever recognises that currently the state does not have the finances to increase the spending that the introduction of social welfare individualisation would bring
With that in mindLabour Womenbelieves that until such a time as to when social welfare individualisation can be introduced where there is an unemployed married couple or civil partnership the payment should be to that family and not to an individual considered to be the head of the household or the breadwinner
Labour Womenwill also carry out a campaign for womenin unemployed households to sign on for credits so that the department of social welfare and training bodies know that they are available for work and/or further training.
Proposed by : Dublin South
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- Motion
The Conference of Labour Women urges this government to protect women’s welfare and social inclusion in these times of economic austerity. Specifically we call for each local authority to draft an equality services policy to mainstream equality into all their service delivery, particularly with respect to housing policy. Currently women who leave local authority homes due to domestic violence are deemed to have done so voluntarily and so placed at the bottom of the housing list. With cuts in provision to domestic violence shelters and sheltered accommodation this policy potentially places women and children at risk of homelessness and further violence.
Proposed by : Dublin South Central
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- Motion
The Conference of Labour Women urges the government to introduce tax credits for childcare. Childcare costs are like a second mortgage for some families. Young families are being squeezed in every direction, and women are being forced out of the workforce from economic necessity. Tax deductions for childcare could mean the difference between somebody staying on welfare or taking up a job. Working families need a break!
Proposed by : Dublin South Central
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- Motion
This conference for Labour Women calls on Government to protect self employed women and part-time self employed women.
Current Irish Self employment status rights are unfairly ambiguous.
We ask for the right of Self Employed Women to have greater access to Social Welfare Provisions, Employment rights and worker protection legislation.
Female led SME’s tend to be smaller (microbusinesses) than their Male led Counterparts. Hence more prone to cessation during times of austerity, leaving them more vulnerable to economic despair and more wary of entrepreneurial proactivity for fear of landing on the Social Welfare periphery.
By not protecting these Self Employed Women we risk loosing all gender equality ground that has been gained over the last 2 decades and will send these Women tumbling backwards and see the Gender Pay Gap widen further.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
______________________________
- Motion
Labour Women acknowledges education as a fundamental right of every citizen of this State and as a route to improving the opportunities available to everyone.
However successive Governments have put barriers and obstacles in place that have prevented women from accessing and returning to education. This must be both condemned and addressed.
The educational disadvantage experienced by women, in Ireland, is a multi-dimensional issue that needs to be comprehensively addressed by thisGovernment.
To this end Labour Women calls on the Labour Party as a whole and in particular the Minister for Education and Skills, within the next 12 months, to produce and implement a comprehensive policy, cognisant of existing reports, on women’s education. This policy must address both the issues surrounding access to education and training for women and the various forms of discrimination women experience due to the absence of suitable educational supports, such as
- Childcare,
- Child support,
- Social Welfare,
- Educational grants and scholarships.
In addition this policy should address the needs of specific groups of women in education, such as
- Single parents entering and returning to education,
- Mature students; and
- Disabled women.
Furthermore support services to help keep women in education must be put in place and the Minister must ensure that access to flexible and ‘family-friendly’ education and training is made available to women all over Ireland.
To sustainably rebuild our economy we must develop an educated, diverse and inclusive workforce and this can only be done by fully engaging women of all backgrounds in structured learning. By supporting the individual development of women, through the provision of learning opportunities, we will support the collective development of us all.
Proposed by : Dublin North Central
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- Motion
Labour Women are concerned that cutbacks in funding for special needs assistants are damaging the educational opportunities for both children with special needs and other children in classes with them, and causing unnecessary stress for parents and teachers.
The Conference ask that efforts be made to restore funding.
Proposed by : Wicklow
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- Motion
That the Ministers of Health, Environment and Transport be asked to develop an integrated strategy to promote ‘active’ communities as the first line in developing healthy communities. The promotion of ‘active’ communities is not only a public health and environmental issue, it is very much a women’s issue and also an equality issue as people who live in more 'walkable' communities have higher health outcomes at lower costs.
Proposed by : Sligo / North Leitrim
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- Motion
The Conference calls on Government to : legislate to have the same inspection (HIQA) powers for A&E departments as exist at present for nursing homes. At present there is no consistency regarding the conditions in any of these units round the country, when people can be on chairs for days on end, waiting to be admitted to a bed with deterioration and danger to health.
Proposed by : Dun Laoghaire
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- Motion
This Conference of Labour Women notes that women should be entitled to the highest standards of care during pregnancy and birth, and post-nataly and calls on the Minister for Health to ensure that an explicit health policy is put in place so that women are given the information they need to make appropriate choices about how they wish to give birth, and that a full range of options, including home birth and a range of styles of hospital delivery, is made available to all women. This policy must also address the issue of the incidence of medical intervention in childbirth, particularly the rate of caesarean sections, which are expensive and, when not medically required, risky.
Proposed by : Labour Women Executive
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- Motion
Labour Women recognises the remarkable work that women human rights and trade union activists in Zimbabwe have carried out in the face of serious danger to their and their families’ lives
Labour Women wishes to extend its solidarity to these women especially in the run up to the constitutional referendum and the general election a period that is likely to see increased violence and conflict in Zimbabwe
Proposed by : Dublin South
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- Motion
Labour Women in Ireland confirm their solidarity with women in the developing world and call upon Labour in Government to work towards :
- Reinstatement of the cuts made by the last Government in aid to developing countries
- Speedy progress towards achieving the internationally agreed goal of aid amounting to 0.7 percent of GDP
- Establishment of a ‘Tobin’ tax of transactions by financial institutions with as much as possible of the product going towards development aid, in addition to the 0.7 percent of GDP already agreed.
Proposed by : Wicklow
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- Motion
That each Constituency be given the opportunity to 'twin' with a Women's group or committees from Developing Countries with a list provided (i.e. Half the Sky) from the Women & Equality Officer.
Proposed by : Sligo / North Leitrim
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- Motion
That this conference of Labour Women calls on the Labour Women executive to lobby the Government to ensure that all necessary steps are taken, both through legislation and support programmes, to allow the ratification by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210).
Proposed by : Dublin South East
ENDS
