Domestic violence on agenda at public talk
The widower of murdered Drogheda woman Gill Meagher heads up an organisation in Ireland that will take part in a public talk on gender equality in Sligo next week.
Tom Meagher’s White Ribbon Ireland is a non-profit organisation and the country’s only national, male-led primary prevention campaign to end men’s violence against women.
Gill Meagher was a 29-year-old Irish woman living in Australia who was raped and murdered while walking home from a pub in Melbourne Australia.
The Free workshop which is open to everyone will take place at the Sligo Northside Community Centre next Tuesday 6 th February.
The talk will explore gender equality in an Irish context. Drogheda based NGO, Development Perspectives will host the event.
Spokeswoman Deborah Conlan says: “The workshop will provide participants with an introduction to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 5: Gender Equality.”
The issue of domestic violence will come under the spotlight.
Deborah says: “Research carried out by the National Crime Council has shown that 1 in 7 women in Ireland have experienced severe abusive behaviour of a physical, sexual or emotional nature from a partner at some times in their lives.”
Other topics under gender equlity will also be discussed as Deborah says: “We sometimes forget in Ireland that we still have a lot of work to in order to achieve gender equality across the board.
“From a European point of view we still fall very short in terms of female representation in political and economics spheres, and domestic violence is still a prevalent issue.
“This workshop will explore some of these points and the part we can play to address these issues in Ireland.”
Stephanie Kirwan, coordinator of the Sustainable Development Goals Challenge #SDGchallenge who works with Development Perspectives charity says: “Development Perspectives is a Development Education NGO.
“Our mission is to contribute to lessening poverty, inequality and climate change through transformative education and active global citizenship.
“Our work explores, examines and acts upon a range of issues and challenges that face our world.
“This is why we travel the length and breadth of the country to host public workshops on topics such as this.
“We encourage as many people as possible to attend our free workshop on Gender Equality next week.
“It will be an informative and interesting evening with expert speakers on issues such as domestic violence.”