Top 10 legal strides forward for women

1. The Vote - The Representation of the People Act was passed on the 6th February 1918 allowing the vote for women where they were over 30 years and owned property. Full voting rights for Women over the age of 21 arrived with The Constitution of the Irish Free State Act, 1922.

2. The Irish Constitution 1937 enshrined the principle of equality albeit with due regard to differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of social function.

3. Married Women’s Status Act 1957 allowed Irish women to act independently of their husbands in relation to owning, selling and dealing with property.

4. Civil Service (Employment and Married Women Act) 1973 – Removed the marriage bar which meant that married women could continue working eg. in the Civil Service after they married.

5. McGee-v-Attorney General (1974) IR 284 – the case which made the law banning the importation of contraceptives invalid thereby allowing contraceptives to be imported into Ireland. This gave Irish women choices over when and how many children they would have.

6. Juries Act 1976 as a result of case of De Burca-v-Attorney-General 1976 IR 38 meant that juries could be made up of male and female Dail voters and not just property owners who were predominantly male at the time.

7. Family Home Protection Act 1976 meant that the family home could not be sold or mortgaged without the consent of the non-owning spouse who was not on the title thereby preventing a family home being sold over a family’s head.

8. The Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 and The Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 allowing families to separate, move on and remarry.

9. Equal Status 2000 and Employment Equality legislation 1998 as amended included gender, sexual orientation, family status and marital status as grounds for discrimination.

10. Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 – provided that long term partners could get some redress on a partnership breakup.