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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF GENDER AWARENESS WEEK 10 MARCH 1999

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF GENDER AWARENESS WEEK 10 MARCH 1999

I am delighted to be here today to launch Gender Awareness week and I would like to thank Charlie Lennon, General Secretary of the ASTI for his kind invitation. Coming as it does just two days after International Women’s Day, the timing of the Gender Awareness Project is very appropriate.

We are all familiar with the cliché that schooldays are the best days of our lives. Some students might disagree with that view, but it is certainly the case that they are the most important and formative years. Our experience of school, the teachers we meet, the fellow pupils we encounter and the attitudes we absorb – these are imprinted on our minds in a way that stays with us for the rest of our lives – for in that chillingly accurate old adage ‘What’s learnt in childhood is engraved on stone!’.

That is why Gender Awareness week is so important. It sends a clear signal to schools, teachers and parents about the need to ensure that our young people are taught the importance of equality and equal rights between men and women, girls and boys. That equality does not mean ignoring the essential differences that exist between the sexes but it does mean that whatever these differences each human person, regardless of gender, is equally valued and equally respected. Crucially we need to ensure our children are taught that gender difference is not a reason to deprive individuals of equal opportunities in any sphere of life.

We have come a long way in Ireland over the past 25 years in promoting such equal opportunities. Our membership of the European Union, together with the enactment of key legislation such as the Anti Discrimination (Pay) Act of 1974 and subsequently of the 1977 Employment Equality Act, have proved to be catalysts of change. This legislation has been instrumental in bringing about a fundamental shift in perceptions among both sexes, in relation to the capabilities, rights and roles of women in our society. We have certainly come a long way since the thought of a woman President seemed unimaginable. In today’s world, young boys are more likely to seek assurances that men can become President of Ireland!

Legislation, however important, is not sufficient in itself. It must be supported by attitudinal change. There are still glaring gender inequalities in many aspects of Irish life, not least in the higher echelons of our public service, politics and business sectors. This demonstrates that we still have a distance to travel, particularly in terms of the attitudes, perceptions and preconceptions we teach our young people. Conversations in the schoolyard still so often carry the language of gender contempt which carries like a virus into relationships, twisting them and diluting their capacity for human happiness.

The Gender Awareness Week, sponsored by ASTI, is primarily about changing these attitudes and enabling young people to look at gender and equality issues through fresh eyes. The project sets out a range of activities which allows young people to explore for themselves how their lives are affected by their gender and by gender stereotyping. I have no doubt that the participating students will learn a lot during this week, that many myths will be exploded and many stereotypes challenged.

It is a welcome development that the focus of this initiative is not just on equality, important though this undoubtedly is. Gender is a much broader issue – it impinges on how we perceive ourselves, how we behave, how we deal with others, the choices we make in relation to work, lifestyle and relationships – in other words, how we live our lives.

How much talent has been stunted, how many relationships affected, how much unhappiness caused and knowledge lost by gender stereotyping? The failure to incorporate the knowledge and experience of both men and women into all disciplines and areas of study has distorted our knowledge and perceptions of many of those disciplines. It has equally deprived many young women of role models to follow, affecting their self-esteem and self-confidence, perhaps forever stunting their capacity to develop their gifts to the full. We have tragically looked gift-horses in the mouth. We have wasted the talents and wisdom of so many people, especially women, by putting artificial limits on their ambition, by corralling them into narrow spaces.

Thankfully this has started to change, not least as a result of initiatives such as this. It sends important messages to our children about the value of human dignity, about how stereotyping of gender, or indeed of any kind, impoverishes our society and affects the lives and life chances of individuals within it. It challenges our young people to take responsibility for their own attitudes, to challenge supposed “truths” that have been handed down, and to create for themselves and others a more equal society, which respects diversity and upholds equal rights.

Once again, I would like to warmly commend the ASTI on this excellent project. I congratulate all those involved and wish you every success with this initiative.