Irish Women's Liberation Movement
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The Irish Women's Liberation Movement (IWLM) was an alliance of a group of Irish women who were concerned about the
sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...
within Ireland both socially and legally. They first began after a meeting in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
's Bewley's Cafe on
Grafton Street Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre — the other being Henry Street. It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the low ...
in 1970. The group was short-lived, but influential.


Background

In the 1970s in the Republic of Ireland, women were denied certain rights based on their
gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
.
Marital rape Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without the spouse's consent. The lack of consent is the essential element and doesn't always involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of dome ...
was not a crime. Women could not keep their jobs for
public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...
or for banks if they got married, collect children's allowance, nor choose their own official place of domicile, and they were normally not paid the same wages for the same work as men. Women could also not buy
contraceptives Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
. Divorce was illegal and "single mothers, widows and deserted wives faced dire poverty." Women were not required to serve on juries and instead had to opt into jury service, meaning that in practice very few women served on juries. There were other women-focused groups in Ireland at the time, such as the Irish Housewives' Association and the Irish Countrywomen's Association which worked for change in a more patient, "behind the scenes" way. The members of the IWLM did not seek change through patience, but rather as "activists and lobbyists."


History

The Irish Women's Liberation Movement held their meetings in Gaj's restaurant on Baggot Street every Monday. Gaj's restaurant was owned by Margaret Gaj who was a
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
activist. It was initially started with twelve women, most of whom were journalists. One of the co-founders was June Levine. The IWLM was democratically organised, with members voting on various projects and protests as a group each month. Local groups of IWLM sent two representatives each to the meetings. Overall, the meetings were often very disorganised and noisy, but also, the meetings allowed women to express ideas they'd not been able to give voice to before.


Manifesto

In 1970 they published their
manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...
called ''Chains or Change'', which sold out immediately. The ''Chains or Change'' manifesto had six aims and they were: * Equal rights in law. * Equal pay and the removal of the
marriage bar A marriage bar is the practice of restricting the employment of married women. Common in English-speaking countries from the late 19th century to the 1970s, the practice often called for the termination of the employment of a woman on her marriag ...
. * Justice for widows, single mothers and deserted wives. * Equal educational opportunities. * The right to contraception. * One family, one house. The issue of abortion was still too volatile for IWLM to discuss, even among their members, so it was never part of the manifesto.


''The Late Late Show''

Members Nell McCafferty and Máirín Johnston represented the IWLM on '' The Late Late Show'' for a lively debate soon after it was published. The later
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
of Ireland,
Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist, and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987 an ...
, left his home while watching ''The Late Late Show'' and went on air to discuss the issues, but the discussion turned into a "free-for-all screaming match between Garret Fitzgerald and various women in the audience." He had been provoked into coming on the show because
Mary Kenny Mary Kenny (born 4 April 1944) is an Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright. A founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, she was one of the country's first and foremost Feminism, feminists, often contributes columns to the ...
made a statement on the show accusing Dáil members of not caring about women's problems. Fitzgerald said that the issue was not the fault of the government, but of women for not asking for change. Because some of the IWLM members had "spent years putting pressure on various governing bodies, the exchange turned into a good fight."


Organisation

One month after ''The Late Late Show'' debate, the first public meeting of the IWLM was held in the Dublin's Mansion House. Over 1,000 women attended the meeting which lasted over three hours (men were allowed in as "guests"). Following this meeting names of those interested in joining were taken; a number of groups and sub-committees were formed.


Contraceptive Train

On 22 May 1971 forty-seven members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement took the
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
to
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
train to import contraceptives over the Irish border and this became known as the
Contraceptive Train The Contraceptive Train was a women's rights activism event which took place on 22 May 1971. Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement (IWLM), in protest against the law prohibiting the importation and sale of contraceptives in the Rep ...
. One member, Pat Ledwith, thought the condoms would be confiscated, but they weren't. The Contraceptive Train was considered a "daring act" by the ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'' because the women involved risked stigma from their conservative community.


Name change

In 1972, the IWLM changed its name to the Women's Liberation Movement. Several other groups were formed by members of the IWLM such as Irishwomen United, Women's Political Association, Irish Women's Aid, The Rape Crisis Centre and The National Women's Council of Ireland.


Important members

Other famous members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement were Nell McCafferty and
Mary Kenny Mary Kenny (born 4 April 1944) is an Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright. A founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, she was one of the country's first and foremost Feminism, feminists, often contributes columns to the ...
Maher, who was from Chicago, contributed ideas from the American feminist movement to the group.
Nuala Fennell Nuala Fennell (; 25 November 1935 – 11 August 2009) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and feminist activist. In the 1970s, Fennell became a significant figure in Ireland's women's movement, co-founding various organisations advocating for women ...
was involved, but resigned in 1971 due to differences over the Prohibition of Forcible Entry Bill. This piece of legislation was an area of contention among other groups in Ireland at the time as well because of one of the clauses which could lead to fewer civil rights for journalists. In addition, clauses in the bill prohibited the occupation of vacant houses.


See also

*
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland Abortion in Ireland is regulated by the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. Abortion is permitted in Ireland during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and later in cases where the pregnant woman's life or health is at r ...
* Feminism in the Republic of Ireland *
Women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
*
Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...


References

{{Reflist, 33em Feminist movements and ideologies Women's rights in Ireland Feminist organisations in Ireland 1970 establishments in Ireland