Could The Irish Constitution’s Support for Mothers Actually Be Progressive?

Valuing Women’s Reproductive Labour & Care for Children

Next Friday, the people of Ireland will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, which would remove a clause recognizing and protecting the vital caregiving role played by mothers.

Proponents of the amendment argue that deleting the “woman-in-the-home” clause is the progressive thing to do. But, Lauren Bari and Karleen Gribble ask, is devaluing women's reproductive and care work actually feminist?

Fairer Disputations
 

Could the Irish Constitution's Support for Mothers Actually Be Progressive?

LAUREN BARI & KARLEEN GRIBBLE

Pregnancy and birth do not just happen in a puff of smoke. They come at great physical, emotional, and psychological cost, and they trigger a profound personal transformation for women. Even the most die-hard proponent of gender equity in the home can find their ideals clashing with the reality of life with multiple children, pregnancy complications, the intensity of breastfeeding, and the day-to-day allocation of parental tasks.

These are not mere stereotypes or societally constructed gender roles. They are actualities. Every attempt to neutralize language around sex in law and policy sends a small but perceptible signal that these realities in mothers’ lives are insignificant.

Around the Web

Each week, we've brought you the best in sex-realist content from around the web. This isn't changing—but our method of delivery is. Starting today, check out our curated round-up over at our site. And you might just find your next long read from our new "What I'm Reading" section, spotlighting one of our Featured Authors each week.

Fairer Disputations
 

This Week in Sex-Realist Feminism

THE EDITORS

Going undercover as non-binary and uncovering what should be a medical scandal, the danger of fanfic, millennial malaise...and more.

Plus, what Featured Author Mary Harrington is reading this week.

From the Archives

ICYMI: Check out Catherine D'Alexandrie's thoughtful analysis of what "transgender analogies" have to offer—and where they fall short.

Fairer Disputations
 

Keeping Our Story Straight: The Peril and Promise of Transgender Analogies

CATHERINE D'ALEXANDRIE

Both children and adults could benefit from the state providing tools to those who have found themselves on the wrong side of transgender ideology, whether they experienced social contagion, conversion, or simply a desire to be trendy. The benign-sounding paradigm of “informed consent” enables doctors and surgeons to prey on individuals, increasing their profits at the expense of the individual’s wellbeing. Instead of banning medical procedures—which will be seen from the inside as persecution—we need systems that allow adults to make their decisions, and then recover from them. Informed consent waivers currently prevent detransitioners from suing; legislation could change this more easily, and more popularly, than attempting to ban adults from procuring cross-sex hormones or surgeries. 

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