THERE is a code of conduct relating to the social behaviour of individuals in employment, specifically in relation to the matter of sexual harassment, dating back to 1991, but which has yet to be implemented on an EU wide basis. One reason for this delay, it has been suggested, has been the difficulty in reaching agreement on a common interpretation of the terms involved. That's all! Nothing to do with gender or equality and certainly nothing to do with the fact that the legislature is dominated by men at senior governmental level. On face value, therefore, the fact that the vast majority of the victims are women has nothing to do with it.
The truth of the matter is that Ireland does not rate highly on the empowerment of women. The cover of the recent issue of Business and Finance, depicting a woman being crushed by a boot, is a case in point. The United Nations 1996 Development Programme report, too, gives many examples to support this claim. One such example concerns the fact that, as recently as 1993, women in Ireland received a lower percentage share of earned income than the average for the least developed nations in the world. Another is that Ireland is ranked 23rd in the world on women's participation in professional, economic and political decision making, and shows below the world average for representation by women in parliament.
Such facts do not make encouraging reading but we should welcome them nonetheless. After all, any piece of research or writing that adds to our knowledge of women and the lives they lead has to be positive. There was a time when such information would not have been considered topical, would not have made popular reading and would not, therefore, have received an airing.
But times have changed and all women should be grateful for such attention, shouldn't they? I mean, what can the downside be to being known a little better, understood a little more, recognised for the role we have to play in society?
Of course, a lingering suspicion remains, a fear that knowledge is power and the more that is known about us the more vulnerable we are to those who would harm us those who would see a woman as less than equal, less deserving of respect, less a force to be reckoned with and more a force to be conquered and subdued. But I've been told that such fears are old hat. The Presidency of our country is in the hands of a woman, after all. Irish women have scaled the heights of sporting excellence. We have our women of letters, women of culture, women of conscience. Women of substance, all. It has been asked, therefore, what more can we want? What higher ideal do we seek?
The stock in trade answer is that we want peace. Not only in our country but in our own societies, in our hearts and in our homes. We want to be able to cross our borders, walk our streets, raise our families, live, work, speak our minds, without fear, without discrimination and without having to look over our shoulders.
HO among us, then, didn't utter a cry of outrage and despair upon hearing the manner of the tragic deaths of so many women recently. The violence of their deaths, and the fact that the lives of so many women have been terminated brutally since January of this year, is sad testimony to the decreasing value placed on the life of the life givers. The publicity surrounding such individual cases has brought the issue of violence against women to public attention. But I am reminded too of the stories of other women I have come to know over the years, women who have experienced violence of a less public kind.
Violence against women in the home has become a feature of our modern society. Some men use mental and physical violence to exert control over women, for persistent violence undermines a woman's confidence and breaks her spirit. The catalogue of abuse, the type and nature of the violence visited upon these women is frightening. The reality for all women is that our very existence would be seen to be currently held in scant regard. This common complaint has taken on an ominous note with the catalogue of unnatural deaths of so many Irish women this year.
In this overall context, the decision some months ago by Michael D. Higgins to cut funding to the Irish Women's Archive stood out. What used to be seen as feminist rhetoric, that over and over again women have been, and are being, written out of history, is starting to have a basis in reality.
So why is it that society would appear to be becoming more informed yet less responsive? Recent research has shown that women who suffer abuse are most likely to report it to someone known to them and yet the upsurge in such offences surely points the finger at us, as friends and relatives, keeping our own counsel. Individual responsibility and public accountability are two sides of the same coin. We must take note and so too must the policy and image makers. Our public representatives must ensure best use of the statutory instruments within their power for the equal advantage of all, for wasn't it on the basis of such promises that we elected them.
But how long must we wait for them to fulfill such promises?
How long before society wakes up to the fact that the evil that men do lives after them?
