Joining the European Community in 1973 was a fundamental step forward for Irish women who automatically upon membership of the EEC received rights of equality particularly in the field of employment. For example, women who married prior to 1973 were prohibited from continuing in civil service employment following their marriage under Irish law guided by the Irish Constitution.
Since our membership, workers and women have benefited from further equality based legislation and socially based legislation such as the promotion of maternity and paternity leave, rights of redundancy and protection of young persons at work in addition to rights for
part-time and agency workers and protection of health and safety.
Secondly, Irish women have been influenced Europe for many centuries. Some of them like Rosa O’ Doherty who would have come from a Brehon law system of spirited Irish women was entrepreneurial in the Irish College of Louvain while in exile established herself in practice as the first Irish Ambassador of Brussels supplying documentation for travel to all her Irish brethren.
Following in her footsteps, Anne Anderson a Tipperary woman, now Irish ambassador to the UN, was the first Irish and European woman to sit at and then lead the meetings of Coreper – a weekly meeting of each of the twenty seven ambassadors of the EU who organize meetings for the Ministers of the EU – during the Irish Presidency 2004. A second Irish woman, Dublin woman Catherine Day is the first woman Secretary General of the European Commission.
Thirdly, the European Social Fund continued to focus on those who are marginalized in society such as those who have become redundant or long-term unemployed and need to be up-skilled to adapt to the present market in addition to assisting marginalized women who wish to pursue third-level education and children of disadvantaged backgrounds
Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is important to women and I will give you a couple of the Reasons Why.
If the Lisbon Treaty is passed, the Charter of Fundamental Rights comes into legal effect and each of the institutions when proposing and adopting law will have to pay attention to the rights therein. For example the Charter promotes human dignity such as a ban on human trafficking and a ban on the death penalty, the right to education, the right to solidarity and the rights of workers to negotiate with their employer.
Ireland cannot deal with cross-border challenges alone – challenges such as cross-border crime, climate change, global financial crisis, terrorism and s of human trafficking. We need our EU family to assist us with cross-border cooperation.
Victims of human trafficking are mostly women and children who are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude. The Treaty will not only prohibit human trafficking but will also make it much easier for countries to work together to combat the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.
The Lisbon Treaty will assist us both with improving job creation through the promotion of green jobs, saving money and working to sustain our planet in the long-term. The Treaty encourages renewable energy and inter-connectedness of our energy supply. When Russia turned off the energy tap in the Ukraine up to 14 different countries were affected. The Lisbon Treaty aims to
improve our energy security through connecting us to European lines. Let us not forget that this inter-connector will facilitate our plug-in opportunity to supply our fellow countries with energy from our wind and wave energy making potential in the coming years.
The EU is the largest donor of development aid in the world and has proved to be the world’s most successful peace project. The Lisbon Treaty aims to put poverty eradication at the heart of its development goals and to increase its budget to improve
The EU is not about ‘them’ and ‘us’. The EU is ourselves. This is a system which has provided a framework for cooperation and peace through the pooling of sovereignty. It is our Governments and our MEPs who adopt EU legislation. This Treaty brings more democracy to you. Let’s move forward with the Lisbon Treaty which will ensure that Ireland remains at the heart of Europe.
About the Author:
Regina O Connor is an Irish solicitor who has worked for the last five years as a legal and political advisor
http://europeanunionthereasonswhy.blogspot.com/
in the European Parliament, the UEN Group and the Fianna Fail MEPs.
http://www.europeanunion-thereasonswhy.com
.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Lisbon Treaty For Women – The Reasons Why
