Without women's full input we're 'flying on one wing'

GENDER BIAS:TO EXCLUDE women's full contribution was to be a country "flying on one wing instead of two", President Mary McAleese said yesterday

However, she said that as a society we are still only in the opening chapter of the war against sexism.

Mrs McAleese said the “shelf life of the toxic thinking that underpins sexism . . . is remarkably long”.

Addressing a conference in Dublin to mark the 100th International Women’s Day, Mrs McAleese said the lack of support for women who have both care and professional responsibilities was inhibiting them fulfilling their potential and participating fully in civic life.

We could with pride acknowledge the positive changes that had occurred in the lives of women, she said.

“But if anyone in this audience thinks the work begun a century ago is over, you are not tuned into the real world.

“Like the toxic thinking that underpins racism, ageism and all those isms, the toxic thinking that is fed into us in subtle and incremental ways from babyhood into childhood and adulthood, and informs our attitudes and our thinking and our behaviour, is remarkably long.

“We do well to realise, that just because the world seems a more equal place, that thinking is still there, and complacency is its best friend. We need to remain very focused on building a culture of best practice in relation to gender bias.”

She said Irish women and men had a huge debt to women such as Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, who 100 years ago began the battle for a woman’s right to vote. Their sacrifices and imaginations helped change the landscape of opportunities for women. Their battle was against centuries of laid-down bias against women, she said.

We still battle against the legacy of that bias, she added.

“None of us can fully measure the paralysing effects of centuries of biased attitudes to women, to their roles and their aptitudes.

“But we can be sure that those effects continue, sometimes overtly and sometimes very subtly, particularly as women struggle to be mothers, carers and home-makers as well as employees or employers.”

She said encouraging and supporting women to fulfil their full potential “is an imperative for society for it is an imperative in developing our national potential”.

To exclude women’s full contribution was to be a country “flying on one wing instead of two”.

“As each of us leaves this celebration today, we take with us that same challenge of 100 years ago of how can we as women, help women, help our country and our culture to become more family friendly, more sensitive to the things which inhibit women’s full civic participation and which reduce the fullness of our shared civic life.”