Women should follow the lead of taxi-drivers and agitate to get what they want, Dr Germaine Greer said yesterday.
Addressing the National Women's Council of Ireland's annual conference in Dublin, the feminist and academic said the drivers had "frightened and agitated" the politicians.
"They are only a small proportion of the population, but it was easier for them to mobilise than it is for us," she said. "I can think of something that would frighten them [politicians] a lot more." Mothers were reluctant to withdraw their labour because it would harm their children, according to Dr Greer. She urged women to "surprise the Taoiseach when he least expects it".
Dr Greer was in top form when she addressed the gathering of over 300 women. She spoke for an hour without any visible notes and berated photographers for taking her picture without permission.
She encouraged women to find common ground and to lobby for a "wage for mothers". She said this should be paid to all mothers, whether they stayed at home or not. However, this should not be a wage for housework. "The last thing anyone should be paid for is housework. Most housework should not be done at all."
Dr Greer referred to a recent Government announcement of a £23 million allocation to children in disadvantaged areas and said this was the equivalent cost of selling a West Ham footballer to Leeds.
"Why do we not invest in our children?" she asked. "Children are not being perceived as riches any more. They are being perceived as a drain on our finances."
According to Dr Greer, a wage for mothers could reduce the incidence of abortion, because women were often forced to have an abortion for economic reasons.
She said many women took up jobs which were not worthwhile simply because they needed the money. Pregnancies put these jobs in jeopardy.
"Most families are too small now," she said, and warned that if women stopped having babies it would be very hard to change this mindset.
She questioned the view that having access to abortion was a privilege and said it must not be presented in this way, as abortion had a lasting effect on women and left grief and guilt in its wake. Late abortion was "criminal", Dr Greer said, because of the effect it had on the woman, and the increasing claim on life the foetus had as it developed.
She highlighted the link between domestic violence and alcohol, claiming alcohol had been involved in 99 per cent of domestic abuse cases. She said the power of the alcohol lobby was very difficult to fight. A wage for mothers might reduce domestic violence as men would see mothers as an asset, rather than a drain on their wages.
The importance of teachers was also emphasised by Dr Greer, who called for a quadrupling of the education budget. She said education and teachers should be perceived as "glamorous".
