The schedule for Empowering Women Through Secularism is online.

Saturday 29th of June

9.30am-10.15am – Introduction – Annie Laurie Gaylor

10.15am-11.30am  Session 1 – Reproductive rights and Irish abortion law Ophelia Benson, Clare Daly, Anthea McTiernan, Ailbhe Smyth, Doctors for Choice

11.45am-1 pm – Session 2 – Secular Values in Society Leonie Hilliard, Nina Sankari, Farhana Shakir, PZ Myers

2.15pm-3.30pm – Session 3 – Separation of Church and State Ann Brusseel, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Rebecca Watson, Michael Nugent

4.45pm-6.00pm – Session 4 – Human Rights Jane Donnelly, Maryam Namazie, To Be Confirmed, Dan Barker

6.15pm-7.00pm – Keynote Speaker – Taslima Nasrin

Sunday 30th of June

10.15am-11.30am – Session 5 – Politics and Campaigning Rachel Donnelly, Maryam Namazie, Ann Marie Waters, Carlos Diaz

11.45am-1pm – Session 6 – Finalising the Declaration Panelists representing outcomes of each of sessions 1-5

2.15pm-3.30pm – Session 7 – Review of Conference and What Next Kate Smurthwaite, others to be confirmed

3.30pm – 4.15pm – Closing speeches

This is going to be great.

I don’t think I knew, before yesterday, that Ireland’s constitution has a clause about women and “their duties in the home.”

It’s in Article 41, starting on page 160 of the government version.

2° The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.

That’s an alarming sentence already. It sounds Vaticanesque, but I haven’t been able to find anything from the Vatican that says, as that sentence seems to, that the family is “superior to” (and thus immune from?) the law. I have a feeling I’ve written about the idea before, too, but I haven’t been able to find that either. It’s a terrible idea, though. We’re all very familiar with how common it is for someone – especially someone female – to need the protection of the law because “the family” is intent on killing her, or beating her up or locking her in her room forever or keeping her out of school. [Read more…]