Ireland to vote on removing 'woman's place in the home' clause from constitution
The Republic of Ireland will hold a referendum on an article in its Constitution which states a woman's place in "in the home."
Article 41.2 of the Irish Constitution, which was created in 1937, stipulates that: "The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved."
The constitution also discourages mothers from gaining employment lest it affect their domestic obligations at home.
"The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home," the article continues.
On Thursday the Irish government passed a motion to remove the "outdated" article from the constitution. A referendum on the article will occur on the same day as Ireland's presidential election in November.
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Orla O'Connor, director of the National Women's Council of Ireland, said the article is "symbolic of an Ireland that kept women at home and kept women at a particular place which really took away women's rights."
"It's so important that we recognise that, of course, a woman's place is everywhere, it's in the home, it's in paid work, it's in many different places," says O'Connor. "And to have a provision in the Constitution that says a woman's place is in the home really speaks to a very unequal Ireland."
Charlie Flanagan, Ireland's justice minister, said the article is reflective of the "prevailing social ethos of the 1930s," but some have argued that it represents a "narrow, discriminatory view that sought to confine women to one part of society only."
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People on social media have praised the government's move to make its Constitution more reflective of a modern society by having "the mother of all spring cleans."
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Some feel the Irish Constitution is in need of an overhaul.
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Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
