Ireland looked set to reject proposals to replace constitutional references to the makeup of a family and women\u2019s \u201clife within the home\u201d when votes are counted on Saturday, in what would be a significant defeat for the government.
\nRegina Doherty, a lawmaker for the Fine Gael party which rules in coalition with Fianna Fail and the Green Party, told national broadcaster RTE that early tallies from Friday\u2019s poll indicated the Irish people had voted \u201cin a very large way\u201d against the proposals in two referendums, called the family amendment and the care amendment.
\nBallot boxes were opened at 9 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Saturday and the result is expected later in the day.
\nIrish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had pitched the votes, deliberately held on Friday to coincide with International Women\u2019s Day, as a chance to delete some \u201cvery old-fashioned, very sexist language about women\u201d.
\nThe two proposals would make changes to the text of article 41 in the Irish constitution, written in 1937.
\nThe first asked citizens to expand the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to also include other durable relationships, whether founded on marriage or not.
\nThe second would replace dated language surrounding a \u201cmother\u2019s duties in the home\u201d with a clause recognising care provided by family members by \u201creason of the bonds that exist among them\u201d.
\nBut campaigners argued that the proposed replacement constitutional wording \u2013 saying the state shall \u201cstrive\u201d to support care provision \u2013 would enshrine care as a private responsibility and not a state one.
\nIn effect the proposal to spread the burden of care for family members with disabilities to the entire family from only the woman became a row about the extent or willingness of the state to support carers.
\n(Reuters)family definition. family makeup, women’s life, constitutional references<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ireland was expected to reject proposals to amend constitutional references regarding family structure and women’s roles in the home, based on early tallies from referendums. The votes, referred to as the family amendment and the care amendment, aimed to update Article 41 of the Irish constitution, which dates back to 1937. The first proposal sought to broaden the definition of family beyond marriage-based relationships, and the second aimed to replace outdated language about a mother’s duties with recognition of care provided by family members due to their bonds. Critics argued the changes would shift the responsibility of care to families rather than the state. The results were anticipated to be announced on the day following the vote, which coincided with International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1133,3,1131,952,415,501,115,187,1130,429,1100,1132,18],"class_list":["post-3599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-constitutional-references","tag-cyprus","tag-family-makeup","tag-gender-equality","tag-government","tag-green-party","tag-human-rights","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-marriage","tag-women","tag-womens-life","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n