Monday, April 14, 2008

Devloution (sic)- making a difference for women?

Junior Ministers Jeffrey Donaldson and Gerry Kelly met with a delegation from the Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform at Stormont today to discuss the vital contribution that women make to society.

Was a meeting really necessary to "discuss" that particular topic?
Could they not just have taken it as read that women make a "vital contribution"to society?

Speaking after the meeting, Jeffrey Donaldson said:
"People are seeing just how devolution can really make a difference."

Can "devolution" (or "Devloution", as the NI Govt website refers to it- perhaps it's the Irish translation)"really make a difference" in the area of womens’ rights?

The various sex discrimination and employment laws are already in place; domestic violence, the other topic Jeffrey mentioned, is obviously a police and society matter and not something which (unfortunately) any government, devolved or otherwise, can eradicate.

So, apart from nice cosey meetings delivering up meaningless platitudes, how exactly can devolution "really make a difference"?

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