Menu
Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— April – May 2013
R
OSIE Hackett was one of the small group who tried to print the
Proclamation on a faulty printing press and brought the
first copy, still wet, to James Connolly. She was a member of the
Irish Citizen Army and served with Constance Markievicz and
Michael Mallin when they occupied the Royal College of Surgeons in the
Easter Rebellion and was sent to Kilmainham Jail. She was a messenger
in Jacob’s biscuit factory in Dublin and a member of the Irish Transport
and General Workers’ Union. In , she was one of , women who
went out in sympathy with men from the factory who were already on
strike. The same year she was one of the founder members of the Irish
Women Workers Union.
When the tramworkers
went on strike in she and
fellow workers from Jacob’s fac-
tory mobilised in support of the
pickets. When three Jacob’s fac-
tory workers were sacked for
refusing to take off their ITGWU
badge, she was one of the organ-
isers of the ensuing strike. The
employers retaliated by locking out all the workers. At the end of the lock-
out Rosie Hackett was not re-employed by Jacob’s factory. She remained
a trade-union activist for the rest of her life.
There is a campaign to name the new bridge over the Liffey from
Marlborough St to Hawkins St after Rosie Hackett. This would break
with a strong and shameful tradition that has seen thirteen of the sixteen
bridges over the river named after men, with none named after women.
It would be timely in bringing the role of women in the Dublin lockout
to centre stage in this centenary year.
One hundred years ago, the struggle for women’s equality was divided
and weak. The vote was a core issue. The struggle was drawn into and
dominated by the nationalist struggle. It found its way into the labour
movement through the endeavours of people like Rosie Hackett sup-
ported by progressive leaders.
Today, the struggle for women’s rights has achieved real progress but
has yet to achieve its goals. Economic crisis now crowds out concern for
women’s equality, just as the national question crowded it out a hundred
years ago. Yet, equality for women is as key to a resolution of economic
crisis as it was to achieving a free and independent Ireland.
Equality for women has to be a core concern in all political, economic,
social and cultural arenas. This requires alliances, solidarity and a popu-
lar valuing of equality in society. Equality for women must also continue
to be pursued as a specific strategy in its own right. This requires organi-
sation, focus, and accountability. Both strategies require new thinking
and innovation. Local-level action for equality for women must set the
agenda for national action and hold government to account. The link
between national and local action is often fragile. It needs rebuilding
and re-invention.
Nineteen thirteen and the Dublin Lockout quickly evoke the names of James
Larkin and William Martin Murphy. With a bit of probing James Connolly
will be identified. However, the names of women involved in the Dublin
Lockout are now being popularly recognised too. Does the Dublin Lockout
hold a legacy for the women’s movement and equality for women, asks Niall
Crowley, commissioning editor of this Lockout insert
Thirteen of the sixteen
bridges over the river
are named after men,
with none named after
women
Rosie Hackett inspires
equality agenda
W
O
M
E
N
L
O
C
K
O
U
T
SPECIAL
T
HE Waterford Women’s Centre believes that needs are best iden-
tified by those who struggle rather than those who benefit from
society’s current way of operating. Oppression teaches us far
more than comfort does. Instead of the traditional understand-
ing of social movements as either integrationist or oppositional, we have
developed an alternative space of women. Locally-based women’s groups
have predominantly been a movement of working-class women, reflecting
an interest in feminist ideas of equality while holding true to community
involvement rather than individual advancement.
The initial reason for setting up the Women’s Centre in was to
provide education and training for working-class women community
leaders. This objective remains as crucial today as it was then. We pro-
vide pre-development up to third-level education for these women. Our
focus is on working-class women and women facing multiple barriers to
participation. Challenging patriarchy is too often left to groups who can
afford to do it and this should not be so.
Working-class women are excluded from participating at many lev-
els in our society due to systemic and internalised barriers. Inequality
is maintained through existing neo-liberal, patriarchal, and capitalist
systems. Internalised oppression can promote acceptance of inequality
through lack of confidence and low self-esteem. This makes participation
difficult if not impossible. It silences, divides and isolates.
We hold a strong belief in collective learning and the creation of con-
ditions that enable working-class
women to reclaim confidence in
themselves, and find their voice.
Learning is at the core of com-
munity development. We often
express this in terms of “unlearn-
ing”, undoing the conditioning of
a society that regards those who
fail as being at fault, and those
who are victims of patriarchy as
“bringing it on themselves”, or
“being no better than she should
be”.
Social analysis enables indi-
vidual women to name their
experiences and hear the expe-
riences of other women. When
women see the common aspects
of these experiences, they are
enabled to connect the personal
and the political. ‘Really Useful
Knowledge’ is that which enables
a woman to change her life for the
better.
Our feminist model of partic-
ipatory democracy supports the
women involved to be part of the
decision-making in the Women’s
Centre. This builds capacity for external representation at local, regional
and national level on a variety of relevant structures. When participation
is fostered at a micro level it can be transferred to a macro level. Once
working-class women have the space to find and use their voice, they can
replicate this outside of the Women’s Centre.
Action at local level needs to be connected to action at national level.
The Women’s Centre has been instrumental in maintaining and devel-
oping the National Collective of Community Based Women’s Networks
(NCCWN). This has provided new opportunities for marginalised women
to bring local issues to national policy level.
Our goals have never been adequately resourced. Funding to support
the delivery of third-level qualifications for working-class women has
been constantly eroded since before the current economic downturn.
Programme funding from FÁS and the Department of Social Protection,
which the Women’s Centre had used to support the delivery of third-level
programmes then became inaccessible due to new criteria. This and
other funding sources are only available for the delivery of continuing
education up to level . It appears that working-class women are not to
be supported to go beyond this level.
We face significant funding challenges though women need our
services more than ever. We are currently exploring self-financing and
sustainability opportunities such as social enterprise to ensure that we
are not dependent on state funding.
Movements for equality at a local level will not go away, despite the lack of
recognition and support for critical voices in our society and the failure
to facilitate these critical voices in public spaces, writes Miriam Holt,
Coordinator of the National Collective of Community-based Women’s
Networks (NCCWN)
Members, Irish Women Workers Union, steps, Liberty Hall, 1914
— April – May 2013
W
HEN the Irish Women Workers Union was founded in
September , one of its leading figures, Constance
Markievicz, addressed the first meeting. She said that the
union would not only give women a greater voice in the work-
place but would also help to win them the vote and improve their status in
society. Two years later in , Jacobs biscuit factory in Dublin forced
three young women to remove their union badges. This action was piv-
otal in the lockout.
The Irish Women Workers Union
fought many of its battles along tra-
ditional lines, to win improved pay
and conditions. It played a key role
as a voice for women’s rights and par-
ity with men in the workplace until
it amalgamated with the Federated
Workers Union in . By bringing
women together and being a voice
for women workers, the Irish Women
Workers Union paved the way for the
establishment of women’s organisa-
tions and their fight for equality and
women’s rights in Ireland.
The Irish Women’s Liberation
Movement was established in .
The movement’s manifesto ‘Chains
or Change’ contained five demands
- equal pay, equality before the law,
equal education, contraception and
justice for deserted wives, unmarried
mothers and widows.
Being a collective voice for women
and women’s organisations was also at
the heart of the Council of the Status
of Women (which later became the
National Women’s Council of Ireland)
when it was established in by a
group of feminists chaired by Hilda
Tweedy of the Irish Housewives
Association. This year the National Women’s Council of Ireland celebrates
its th anniversary. The struggles of these organisations have gener-
ated significant gains for women’s equality in particular in the area of
employment and economic independence.
Our entry into the European Union, the introduction of employment-
equality and equal-status legislation, improved health services and
increased access to, and better outcomes from, education, have all played
their part in moving women forward. However, women still remain on the
margins of Irish society at many levels. Women are virtually invisible in
debates about the nature of our current crisis, about options for recov-
ery and about how social and economic issues are defined and prioritised
in this country. Women’s experience of the recession has been virtually
ignored in public debate, despite the fact that their unemployment levels
increased by over % in the last year compared to over % for men.
Women entered the recession on an unequal footing to men. While the
period of economic growth was characterised by a rapid increase in wom-
en’s employment, women in Ireland continued to be the primary carers in
families and bear the major burden of domestic and household work.
The myth that women’s equality has been achieved pervades the
media public discourse and public policy. A key challenge for those of
us concerned with promoting women’s rights is to ensure that women’s
experience is named and reflected as a primary concern in this discourse.
This would recognise that addressing women’s inequality, poverty, and
the discrimination they face will benefit all of society, including women,
men, families and communities.
Women of course are not a homogeneous group and any strategies
aimed at women must address the multiple layers of discrimination and
oppression faced by thousands of women from particularly marginalised
communities. These include Traveller women, women with disability, les-
bian women and migrant/asylum seeking women.
There are promising signs. There has been a resurgence in interest
in feminism and what it can offer to Ireland’s recovery. Across universi-
ties there has been a growth of feminist societies. The membership of the
NWCI is growing nationally. There has been widespread interest in the Y
Factor, the NWCI’s youth initiative to encourage and facilitate a voice for
young women and men championing women’s equality.
The current economic crisis has led to a questioning of our values and
recognition of the need to develop and debate a new set of values for a dif-
ferent society. Equality and gender equality must be central to these new
values. Women are at the centre of community-based activity: as political
activists, voluntary and paid workers, management members, spokespeo-
ple and representatives.
Some of the inequalities which women experience, particularly in the
area of political representation, have been recognised and acknowledged
Women entered
the recession on
an unequal footing
to men. While
the period of
economic growth
was characterised
by a rapid increase
in women’s
employment,
women in Ireland
continued to be the
primary carers in
families and bear
the major burden
of domestic and
household work
Women have continued to organise and campaign for
their rights and social change since 1913, when the Irish
Women Workers Union focused its energies on giving
voice to women workers. The theme of the “Y Factor”,
the youth intiative of the National Women’s Council,
at its launch this year, was ‘Our Voice matters’. While
many of the issues have changed, the need and demand for women’s rights
remains. Translating this voice into real change for women and substantive
equality remains the challenge for the NWCI and the women’s movement
today, writes Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council
of Ireland
W
O
M
E
N
L
O
C
K
O
U
T
SPECIAL
as a democratic deficit. However, this acknowledgement currently does
not extend beyond the need for a critical mass of women representa-
tives. The campaign for political representation needs to develop further
into mobilising a women’s vote to advance women’s rights and seeking
a wider diversity of both men and women to represent the diversity of
our society.
So has the enhanced position of women in Ireland changed how we
organise and continue the struggle for women’s rights? Does the current
economic and political climate with the many challenges it poses for the
advancement of women’s equality have implications for this struggle?
The struggle has become even more difficult for NGOs with depleting
resources.
The NWCI has spent significant time in the last year discussing with
women their priorities and the best approaches to achieving them. We
have reorganised accordingly and are becoming a stronger campaigning
force. Last year we led an on-line campaign for legislation for abortion
on the grounds of the X Case judgment in . This campaign involved
over , women and men sending more than , emails to TDs
from every constituency in Ireland. The nationwide response to the cam-
paign was reflective of the national outcry to the tragic death of Savita
Halappanavar. It also reflected a new way of campaigning which enables
organisations like the NWCI to engage immediately with people, particu-
larly women whose lives are so occupied with combining work and family
life. This type of campaigning responds to a world where communication
has become /.
There is also a stronger focus on pooling resources and building greater
alliances in our work. The NWCI is currently involved in a range of cam-
paigns that involve joining forces on common objectives for women’s rights.
‘Turn off the Red Light’ is a national campaign involving diverse community
organisations, NGOs, Trade Unions, Human Rights Groups and individuals.
They have come together to lobby for the criminalisation of the purchase
of sex so as to curb the demand for prostitution and to advocate for sup-
port systems to enable women to leave prostitution.
The Equality Budgeting Campaign was developed with the Irish
Feminist Network, SIPTU and feminist academics. It formed to lobby
for the national budgetary process to be equality-proofed. The Coalition
to Protect the Lowest Paid brings together Trade Unions, the NWCI, the
Migrants Rights Centre and the INOU, focusing on the pay and working
conditions of low-paid workers, predominantly women.
Currently the NWCI is exploring new ways of working and commu-
nicating through an innovative arts project. The Legacy Project explores
the representation of ‘women and work’ from past to present. Four artists
have been commissioned as part of this. The project will look at unpacking
historical and contemporary ideas about work, society, and economy as
well as advocacy and legacy building. The result will be a movable exhibi-
tion to be launched in autumn .
Members of the Jacobs Strike committee, steps Liberty Hall, undated. Delia Larkin and
Possibly Rosie Hackett are pictured
