Today is International Women’s Day, and in Ireland, people are deciding on two questions about how the country’s constitution should talk about women’s roles, who should care for children, and what a family is.
At first, it seemed like an easy choice: to update the old language in the Constitution from 1937. But now the choice has become complicated, and it’s not at all clear how the country will vote.
The minister stated that following efforts to modernize terminology about women and families, the outcome will be recognized.
Ireland has started counting the votes from two referendums that were held on different plans to update the country’s constitution’s language about family and care. Early results showed that a lot of people wanted to vote “no,” which was a humiliating loss for the government.
On International Women’s Day, the votes were cast. They are the latest attempt to show how Ireland is changing and how the once-powerful Catholic Church is losing its hold. When the polls closed at 10 p.m. on Friday, turnout was all over the place. In some parts of the country, 50% of voters showed up, while in others, less than 30% did.
A “yes-yes” vote was backed by all major political groups. The results of both votes should be out by late Saturday night. There were almost 3.5 million people who could vote. Leo Varadkar, the prime minister, said that the results were “in the balance.” He told them to vote “yes” on both issues because “every family is equal” and “family caregivers should be recognized in our constitution.”
The family amendment and the care amendment are both ideas that would change Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, which was written in 1937. The first one asks people to think about what family means beyond marriage and include “durable relationships” like couples who live together and their children. The second suggests replacing old language about a mother’s “duties in the home” with a phrase that recognizes how family members care for each other.