Labour Women
|
Labour Women Mná an Lucht Oibre |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairperson | Sinead Ahern |
| Vice-Chairperson | Michelle Lee |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Headquarters | 11 Hume Street, Dublin 2, D02 T889 Ireland |
| Ideology |
Liberal Socialism Feminism |
| Mother party |
 Labour Party
|
| International affiliation | Socialist Women International |
| European affiliation | PES Women |
| Website | www.labour.ie/women |
Labour Women (Irish: Mná an Lucht Oibre) is the women's section of the Labour Party of Ireland. All women party members are LW members. Those who wish to be actively involved are included in a mailing list which informs them of events, developments, networking opportunities and any other relevant information.
Labour Women works within the Labour Party to strengthen the party's commitment to tackle the systemic subordination of women across the economic, political, cultural and affective spheres of Irish society and to build commitment to gender-specific analysis of policy and practice within the Party.
The Chair of Labour Women sits on the executive of Labour Equality.
In 1971 the Labour Party established the Women's Advisory Committee to advise the Party leader, Brendan Corish, and was the first Irish political party to do so. The members of this first committee were nominated by the Party leader.
In 1974 this changed when the Labour Women's National Council (LWNC) was established as an elected unit of the Party. The structure was representative, and designed to give the LWNC a mandate from Party members. Each constituency was entitled to nominate up to 5 delegates. The Officers and Executive Committee were elected at the AGM by these delegates, as well as an LWNC representative on the Administrative Council (the then ruling body of the Party).
In 1981 Eileen Desmond was appointed Minister for Health and Social Welfare, which she remained (with a short gap in 1982) until 1987
The LWNC and its members were active in the Abortion and Divorce referenda of the 1980s. The Labour Party leader, Dick Spring, refused to endorse the holding of a "Pro-Life" referendum when the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil agreed to do so.
In 1991 the Party Conference passed a resolution creating the position of Constituency Women's Officer, with the dual purpose of encouraging the election of at least one woman to the Executive Committee of each Constituency Council and raising the profile of women's issues. It also committed the Party to the creation of the position of Women's Officer for the Party when finances allowed.
In the run-up to the general election of 1992, the Labour Party selected the highest ever number of women candidates, many activists in the LWNC. The programme for government included a commitment to further equality legislation and the creation of a new Department and Minister for Equality and Law Reform. After the election, the formation of the government resulted in Niamh Bhreathnach being appointed Minister for Education, Joan Burton Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare and Eithne Fitzgerald as Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach, while there were altogether 5 women TDs and 2 Senators in the Labour party representation.
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