Referendums on gender equality will be held in November, the Government has announced. 

The 2020-21 Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality recommended several changes to the Constitution including; a new clause to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination and the replacement of Article 41.2 which recognises a woman’s “life within the home”. 

Draft amendments will be published in June and any Irish citizen over the age of 18, resident in the State and on the electoral register will be entitled to cast a ballot. 

Hundreds of ballot boxes ready to go to polling stations in a warehouse in Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The Article often provokes a strong reaction and Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly said she found its inclusion in the Constitution "offensive".

“I would go even further and say - and I am very loath to use this term because I don’t use it very often and I don’t feel it very often - I find it offensive,” she said.

“The actual terms of Article 41.2 refer to a woman’s life within the home and I think that is outdated.

“Bear in mind one thing, I absolutely believe in the right of any woman or man who is a parent, who chooses - if they can afford to; good luck to them - to spend their life within the home raising their children. If that is what they want to do, I have zero issue with that.

“The idea that that it is [women’s] preeminent role in society, in Ireland, I find offensive."

Speaking to On The Record with Gavan Reilly on Sunday, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said her party would support change in a referendum. 

“We do need to see constitutional change because our Constitution still has cultural expectations that women will have, in the words of the Constitution, ‘A life within the home’, Deputy Bacik said. 

"So, that’s very outdated and that needs to change.”

Main image: A ballot box.