Women of Honour

This article is about misogyny and sexual assault in the Irish Defence Forces. For female talent in Ring of Honor, see Women of Honor.

Women of Honour is a 2021 audio documentary that describes a culture of misogyny and sexual assault in the Irish Defence Forces. Reported by Irish broadcaster Katie Hannon, the documentary was named for an informal group of current and former serving members of the army, naval service and air corps who had been victims of sexual assault while on service.

Documentary

Women of Honour was released on RTÉ Radio One on 23 October 2021, as special episode of Saturday with Katie Hannon. ^[1] In the documentary, Hannon investigated the treatment of misogyny, sexual assault, and rape allegations in the Irish Defense Forces. ^[2] The survivors formed a representative group of the same name. ^{[3] [4]}

Official investigation

An official investigation was ordered by the Minister for Defence Simon Coveney in January 2022. The final report, published in March 2023, made 13 recommendations which the government accepted in full. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Calls for statutory investigation

Following the release of the report from the official investigation, the Women of Honour group called for a statutory investigation. ^{[9] [10]}

The tribunal of inquiry began holding sessions in June 2024. ^[11]

References

1. "Documentary Highlights Abuse Allegations in Irish Defence Forces". EUROMIL. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
2. Hannon, Katie. Women of Honour. RTÉ Radio 1 .
3. Women of Honour on Twitter
4. O'Connor, Niall (27 March 2023). "Women of Honour hold 'constructive' meeting with Tánaiste as report due to be published tomorrow". TheJournal.ie .
5. O'Rourke, Yvonne (30 March 2023). "Women of Honour: We need a statutory inquiry like no other". The Irish Times .
6. Clarke, Vivienne (29 March 2023). "Women of Honour report 'shocking but not surprising', says DRCC chief". BreakingNews.ie .
7. Loughlin, Elaine (28 March 2023). "Women of Honour report: What the Government will do next". Irish Examiner .
8. Varadkar, Leo (29 March 2023). Leaders' Questions (Speech). Leinster House, Dublin. There are a number of recommendations in the report, 13 in total, and we have accepted them all. There are some we can implement very quickly.
9. O'Connor, Niall (28 March 2023). "Women of Honour: Statutory inquiry process 'must start within days rather than weeks'". TheJournal.ie .
10. "Cabinet to consider new terms of reference for tribunal into allegations made by Women of Honour group into Defence Forces". The Irish Times .
11. Aodha, Gráinne Ní (24 June 2024). "'Your chance to be heard': People urged to engage with Defence Forces tribunal". Irish Examiner .

External links

• Women of Honour on Twitter
• Women of Honour documentary presented by Katie Hannon 2021