Nell McCafferty (born 28 March 1944) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, playwright,

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

campaigner and feminist. She has written for ''

The Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' (Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. Foundation The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland ...

'', ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', '' Sunday Tribune'', ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'' and ''

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''.

Early life

McCafferty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, to Hugh and Lily McCafferty, and spent her early years in the

Bogside The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are p ...

area of Derry. She was admitted to Queen's University Belfast (QUB), where she took a degree in Arts. After a brief spell as a substitute English teacher in Northern Ireland and a stint on an Israeli kibbutz, she took up a post with ''

''.

Career

McCafferty was a founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement. Her journalistic writing on women and women's rights reflected her beliefs on the status of women in Irish society. In 1970, she wrote that "Women's Liberation is finding it very hard to explain the difference, when you come down to it, except in terms of physical make-up. And men are as different as women, which no-one holds against them. It's the system which divides. Break the system, unite the people." In 1971, she travelled to Belfast with other members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement in order to protest the prohibition of the importation and sale of contraceptives in the Republic of Ireland. The incident, which attracted extensive publicity, became known as the Contraceptive Train. After the disintegration of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, McCafferty remained active in other women's rights groups, as well as focusing her journalism on women's rights. Her most notable work is her coverage of the Kerry Babies case, which is recorded in her book, ''A Woman to Blame''.''A Woman to Blame''
McCafferty contributed the piece "Coping with the womb and the border" to the 1984 anthology '' Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology'', edited by

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...

. In 1990, McCafferty won a

Jacob's Award The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

for her reports on the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

for

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

's ''The

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-yea ...

Show''. McCafferty lives in

Ranelagh Ranelagh ( , ; ) is an affluent residential area and urban village on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district of D06. History The district was originally a village known as Cullenswood just outside Dublin, surrounded by lande ...

, an area of Dublin. McCafferty published her autobiography, ''Nell'', in 2004. In it, she explores her upbringing in Derry, her relationship with her parents, her fears about being

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, the joy of finding a domestic haven with the love of her life, the Irish writer

Nuala O'Faolain Nuala O'Faolain (; 1 March 19409 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and writer. She became well known after the publication of her memoirs ''Are You Somebody?'' and ''Almost There''. She wrote a biography of I ...

, and the pain of losing it. In 2009, after the publication of the

Murphy Report The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a few ...

into the abuse of children in the Dublin archdiocese, McCafferty confronted Archbishop Diarmuid Martin asking him why the Catholic Church had not, as a "gesture of redemption", relinquished titles such as "Your Eminence" and "Your Grace." McCafferty caused a controversy in 2010 with a declaration in a live Newstalk radio interview that the then Minister for Health,

Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...

, was an alcoholic. This allegation led to a court case in which Harney was awarded €450,000 the following year. McCafferty has very rarely featured on live radio or television in Ireland as a commentator since the incident, despite being ever present in those media from 1990 onwards. However, she has been featured on a number of recorded shows. ''The Irish Times'' wrote that "Nell's distinctive voice, both written and spoken, has a powerful and provocative place in Irish society." McCafferty received an honorary doctorate of literature from University College Cork on 2 November 2016 for "her unparalleled contribution to Irish public life over many decades and her powerful voice in movements that have had a transformative impact in Irish society, including the feminist movement, campaigns for civil rights and for the marginalised and victims of injustice".UCC salutes outstanding achievers
.

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

, November 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2021

Personal life

McCafferty was in a fifteen-year relationship with the late journalist

Bibliography

* ''A Woman to Blame'' - the

Kerry Babies The Kerry Babies case () was a 1984 investigation by the Garda Síochána in County Kerry, Ireland, into the killing of one newborn baby and the alleged killing of another. The mother who concealed the second baby, Joanne Hayes, was arrested and ...

Case * ''Peggy Deery: A Derry Family at War'' * ''Nell''. Penguin, 2004. * ''Goodnight Sisters: Selected Writings of Nell McCafferty''. Attic Press, Dublin, 1987. * ''Goodnight, Sisters...: Selected Writings, Volume Two''. Attic Press, Dublin, 1987.

References

External links

*
Coping With the Womb and the Border
, by Nell McCafferty, in '' Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology'', edited by

(1984) {{DEFAULTSORT:McCafferty, Nell 1944 births 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland Atheists from Northern Ireland Hot Press people Irish birth control activists Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish lesbian writers Irish schoolteachers Irish women dramatists and playwrights Irish women journalists Irish women's rights activists Jacob's Award winners British LGBT broadcasters LGBT dramatists and playwrights Irish LGBT journalists Irish LGBT rights activists LGBT writers from Northern Ireland Lesbian feminists Living people People from Ranelagh Radio personalities from the Republic of Ireland Sunday Tribune people The Irish Press people The Irish Times people Women civil rights activists Writers from Derry (city)