Press Statement Frances Fitzgerald MEP
Thursday 11th February 2021
Frances Fitzgerald, MEP for Dublin and a full member of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, today (Thursday) called for the introduction of greater gender-balanced analysis and coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic across all media in Ireland.
Marking International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11th February), MEP Fitzgerald commented,
“We have become accustomed and immune to watching all-male panel debates on television and listening to male experts on the airwaves over the course of this pandemic. While recognising and valuing the insights and knowledge of all these experts it is essential that women’s voices from the scientific community are heard and receive equal representation on Irish media.”
“If we continue to exclude the voices of female doctors, nurses, professors and public health experts we will suffer in the short and long-term with the impacts of this virus. It is an imperative on this the UN International day of Women and Girls in Science that we see an increase of women from the scientific community leading the way and that young girls see more female role models like Dr. Catherine Motherway and Prof. Karina Butler on our screens everyday”.
Discussing this topic at an online webinar on ‘Women’s Perspectives on the Covid-19 Pandemic’, hosted by the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (I.S.A.G.) yesterday, MEP Fitzgerald said, “We must hear from all experts and this includes women at a national and regional level”.
MEP Fitzgerald recently highlighted the differential impact of the Covid-19 virus on women and men in a report she authored ‘on the gender perspective in the Covid-19 crisis and post-crisis period’ which was overwhelmingly adopted by the European Parliament last month.
ENDS
Notes to the editor:
The report is available in draft form here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2020-0229_EN.pdf
Contact:
Conor Glynn: Conor.glynn@la.europarl.europa.eu
