Freedom from gender-based violence is key to building better, fairer, and safer Ireland. Reflections on leadership for International Women’s Day 2025.

In Ireland, 1 in 3 women will be subjected to psychological, physical or sexual abuse by a partner or ex.

1 in 3.

Domestic abuse is not just something that happens behind closed doors. It infiltrates every level of society – our communities, our schools and colleges, our workplaces.

No one should ever feel afraid of, or less than, the person they are with.

Every day women are being hurt and abused by the person who is supposed to love them. The person closest to them.

However, they manage to navigate coercion, control, trauma, grief, and pain to nonetheless achieve extraordinary things.

And that is worth reflecting on. Because imagine what women could achieve in all walks of life if there was no male violence. If there was true equality in pay, political representation, in distribution of care responsibilities!

I have seen so many women achieve so much in spite of coercive control which, by design, can reduce a victim to a shadow of who they were.

Being subjected to coercive control can feel like a plant that has been denied all food, water and light, which is trapped in cracking soil unable to flourish or grow.

The impact of intimate partner abuse cannot, and should not, be minimised or excused. It can have a devasting effect on women’s emotional and physical well-being. And in the most extreme cases, it can be fatal.

I am so privileged to work at Women’s Aid, and every day I am inspired by the women we support.

The women who are struggling and surviving against the odds to get up, to pull body and soul together, and navigate the complex traps laid by the person who is supposed to love them, but who is instead tormenting them.

Because sometimes just surviving is the extraordinary thing.

At Women’s Aid, we are there 24 hours a day to offer support, information and to signpost to our own face-to-face services and local specialist services across the country.

In our 50 year history we have helped create and shape many laws and policies.

We have challenged myths and stereotypes about domestic violence and who it affects. We strive to build political, structural and public support to destigmatise victims and survivors of abuse, to hold perpetrators to account and to ensure we accelerate the vital work needed to educate new generations of children and young people who will see their future intimate partners as equals, not possessions.

And our work will continue until every woman is safe in her home and in her relationship.

Until there is zero tolerance of all forms of violence against women, including domestic abuse.

But we cannot do this alone.

Everyone has a part to play to rid Irish society of domestic abuse. Yes, we need to recognise domestic violence. We need to develop better responses to it. This is a leadership challenge and one of the most urgent we must prioritise.

We also need to take a proactive approach to building a society where intimate partner abuse cannot exist.

To end it, we need to name what causes it. We need to tackle the problem at the root.

Violence against women is rooted in global gender inequality. This also leads to further inequality because abuse constrains women and girls from participating fully in society and achieving our full potential.

Only when we achieve real gender equality can women and girls be free of male violence.

While so much has improved in so many ways over the last 50 years, violence against women remains a critical issue for us today.

Preventing violence against women is fundamentally a leadership issue for men at all levels of political power, institutional authority and cultural influence.

There are interconnections between men’s violence against women, other men, and themselves. All with an intersectional lens that links incidents of interpersonal abuse to larger institutional and societal forces, and the belief systems that underlie them.

We need men who listen to women, hear what we are saying and then speak up and speak out. Men who challenge sexist misogynistic behaviours and violence among their peers. The work to change the behaviours and attitudes that contribute to male violence against women also benefits the work to end male violence against men.

This International Women’s Day, in a fast-changing world, we can all be inspired to use our leadership positions to counter structural and social discrimination. I am speaking now of gender inequality and the scourge of male violence, but this principle applies to all forms of inequality and exclusion. We need to call out bad behaviour and attitudes. As Germany Kent says: “To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against, or one might believe that you support things you really do not.”

You can ensure that your decisions, communication and actions, in your role as a positive, inclusive leader is informed by different points of view.

The more marginalised a community is, the less power they hold and the more inequalities they face. This is why they need to be central to, and visible in, your plans as well as your cultural values. We must challenge the historic structural systems and centres of power that continue to perpetuate inequality and exclusion.

Just as human beings are not homogenous, neither are women, and we need to ensure that we represent our diversity and know that we bring about change by ensuring we start with the premise that ‘a rising tide must lift all boats’. That by doing what is necessary for the most marginalised or minoritised women and girls we achieve something positive for all women and girls.

If we do this, together I truly believe we can build better, fairer, and safer societies, for everyone.

Find out more or get support: www.womensaid.ie

Male Ally Action List: www.womensaid.ie/men

Finian Murphy Community Foundation Ireland Women's Aid Ireland Allianz Ireland Sean Cooke