Second Opinion: Removing two articles will help stop rape

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, Article 40.3.3, must go. It makes a woman’s life equal to that of a foetus and removes her right to “life, liberty and security of person” (Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)).

It is outrageous that citizens were even asked to vote on its insertion into the Constitution. Article 13 of the UDHR states: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.”

After the 1983 referendum on the Eighth Amendment there was doubt about whether “everyone” included pregnant women. Their right to travel had to be secured by another referendum in 1992.

While we wait to remove Article 40.3.3, more can be done right now to promote gender equality and thereby ensure fewer women are raped and seek abortions.

Rape victims

Many public and voluntary sector organisations provide services for rape victims including: sexual assault treatment units (SATUs), the Garda, Rape Crisis Centres (RCCs) and the courts. All collect their own data.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Rape Crisis Network, Ireland, also collate statistics.

In theory, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence acts as a co-ordinating body. In practice, there is no comprehensive data-collection system.

In July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that Ireland "should establish a systematic data- collection system to inform current and future policies and priorities, and provide, in its next periodic report [31/7/2019], disaggregated statistics on complaints, prosecutions and sentences regarding violence against women".

Ireland has six SATUs: in Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Mullingar and Waterford. The 2013 SATU annual report shows that 648 women and 29 men were treated in these units last year.

An out-of-hours service at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick provided forensic examinations to a further 26 people. The youngest rape victim was 12 years of age and the oldest was 86.

Best practice recommends one SATU per 200,000 inhabitants so 14 additional units are needed.

In 2012, RCCs provided counselling to 2,646 people and nearly 30,000 calls were made to their helplines. Only 30 per cent of those who availed of services provided by RCCs reported the crime to the Garda. Conviction rates for rape and sexual assault are abysmal.

In March, the CSO published a report, Garda Recorded Crime Statistics 2008-2012, which showed that in 2012, 2,117 sexual crimes were recorded: proceedings commenced in 312 of these, and 76 perpetrators were convicted. Cases take a long time to get to court and 207 cases were still pending by the end of 2012.

Combating violence

Ireland must sign the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which came into force last month. The treaty recognises that “equality between men and women is a key element in the prevention of violence against women” and that “violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women”.

Article 12 of the Convention aims to prevent violence by empowering women “in all aspects of life, including political and economic empowerment”. Unfortunately, Ireland has a very long way to go in this regard.

Male sport is constantly in the media. Streets and public buildings are almost always named after men; including, last week, a new campus building for IT Sligo.

Men do not achieve greatness because they are smarter than women: society is structured to give them more chances to succeed.

A 2013 report published by the Department of Justice and Equality, Towards Gender Parity in Decision-making in Ireland: An Initiative of the National Women's Strategy 2007-2016, shows there has been "no increase in women's involvement in politics in 15 years". In fact, when I rang the department for a copy of the report, neither the receptionist nor the press office had heard of it.

The review of the National Women’s Strategy by the Department of Justice and Equality found that the main barrier to women’s participation and advancement is the cost of childcare.

In fact, as long as women keep holding the baby they will be unable to participate in public life to the same extent as men. Nothing less than 50/50 participation will do.

Nonparticipation leads to unequal power relationships between men and women and, like it or not, creates a society in which rape is tacitly accepted.

Articles 40.3.3 and 41.2, relating to the role of women in the home, facilitate unequal power relationships. Removing both articles and providing State-funded childcare will help stop rape.

Dr Jacky Jones is a former HSE regional manager of health promotion and a member of the Healthy Ireland council.

drjackyjones@gmail.com