Ireland has overwhelmingly rejected the proposed changes to ‘sexist’ references on family and women in its constitution during a dual referendum held on Friday.
The proposed changes would have widened the definition of the family and clarified the duties of women in society that were considered outdated.
“Very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women,” is how Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described the Irish constitution’s wording on the matter as he pushed for the vote to be held on International Women’s Day.
Until recently, it had seemed the reforms would pass smoothly. Polls ahead of the vote showed public support and all the major political parties supported a “Yes-Yes” vote.
Nevertheless, Referendum Ireland reported that 67.69 per cent of the 1.021 million voters on Saturday night had rejected the amendment on family, and 73.9 per cent rejected the amendment around replacing language that a mother held “duties in the home”.
Politicians and commentators are pointing fingers at Varadkar for the bungled referendum result saying he had pushed a lacklustre campaign that was rushed.
Critics also said the campaign had confused voters and failed to properly explain why the proposed changes were necessary.
Some had worried that widening the definition of family might affect rules on tax and citizenship, while others had wondered if expanding the responsibility of care from women to the whole family would remove the state government’s incentive to offer support for the issue.
“I think we struggled to convince people of the necessity or need for the referendum at all, let alone detail the working,” said Varadkar, who conceded that the referendums had been “defeated comprehensively” on a “respectable turnout”.
“That’s obviously something we’re going to have to reflect on into the weeks and months ahead.”
The result was embarrassing to the government, and seen as the latest attempt to reflect the changing face of Ireland and the weakening influence of the Catholic Church.
Previous referendums pushing to for socially liberal policies in the country of 5.3 million have been more successful, such as the vote in 2015 that opted to end constitutional limits on same-sex marriage and the legalisation of abortion in 2018.