As the first woman President of Ireland, Mary Robinson isn’t a woman who takes no for an answer. Speaking at Scripps College April 9 on “Enterprise and Social Responsibility,” Robinson encouraged the crowd to say no to politicians until they hear a yes.
Robinson began her career practicing law as one of the few women in her profession. Even as a Reid professor at Trinity College, her salary matched that of a junior lecturer. Determined to teach what she was passionate about and get the compensation she deserved, Robinson started teaching a European Union (EU) law course – the first taught in all of Ireland.
At the same time, Robinson was deeply invested in the campaign for Ireland to join the EU.
“It was a campaign about values,” Robinson said. “I took the view that part of the legacy of colonialism is in the relationship that the former colonial country has with its former colonial power. We were still suffering from that in Ireland in the sense that we were defining ourselves in relation to Britain.”
By becoming one of nine countries who would decide various aspects of policy, Robinson believed the Irish language and culture would be valued again. Robinson also felt that joining the EU would be good for women, because the directors were focused on advancing equal pay and equal opportunity for women.
Robinson continued to advocate for women even after Ireland became a member nation. She demanded pay equality; in one case, she fought for low-income women assembling phone parts at a company where the floor sweeper was paid more than them. “This is a true story,” Robinson warned listeners. “The equality officer concluded the work of the women was superior to the work of the sweeper, and therefore they couldn’t get equal pay, because you needed equal work to get equal pay. The work of the women was superior, not equal.”
Robinson argued their case, which was referred to the Court of the EU, and won on their behalf. Robinson also won a case for two married women fighting for equal unemployment benefits to those which single or married men received.
Despite her work, Robinson still felt the effects of sexism herself. As the only woman member on an EU commission in Belgium in 1972, Robinson was given three options for her remuneration.
“One of the officials came to me and said, ‘Are you a married woman?,'” Robinson said. When she answered affirmatively, he said, “Well, we’ll need the written permission of your husband to open the bank account.”
“I tell the story,” Robinson said,” because this was Belgium, which in 1972 required the written permission of a husband for a wife to open a bank account.”
Robinson went on after her tenure as president to become the first woman to chair the UN Commission for Human Rights, during which she witnessed many countries making rapid progress on human rights to qualify for EU membership. Since then, she has also founded both The Ethical Globalizations Initiative, and the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, where she works on her current passion.
“We link human rights, justice, and the effects of climate change,” Robinson said, noting she focused her work on countries in Africa who already suffer from climate change, which has strained the traditions of subsistence farmers.
“If you undermine poverty, food and water, who has to bear the burden?” Robinson asked. “It is in fact the woman. Most farmers in Africa are women.”
Robinson believes the key to fighting climate change is to make people realize that it effects other humans beings, that climate change is a form of injustice. For this reason, she commits to listening to grassroots organizations to help their voices be heard.
“To the bright students of Scripps College, you’re students at an extraordinarily important time in the world,” Robinson said, mentioning 2015 as a decisive year for action on climate change. “There are a lot of things young people need to get angry about, and say to politicians, this is our world.”