Máirín Johnston (born 1931) is an Irish author and

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 ...

from

The Liberties The Liberties ( or occasionally ) is an area in central Dublin, Ireland, located in the southwest of the inner city. Formed from various areas of special manorial jurisdiction, initially separate from the main city government, it is one of Dub ...

in Dublin, Ireland who worked to bring

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 ...

into

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 ...

in 1971 with the

Irish Women's Liberation Movement The Irish Women's Liberation Movement (IWLM) was an alliance of a group of Irish women who were concerned about the sexism within Ireland both socially and legally. They first began after a meeting in Dublin's Bewley's Cafe on Grafton Street in 1 ...

(IWLM). Johnston has authored ''Dublin Belles: Conversations with Dublin Women'' and ''Around the Banks of Pimlico'', as well as the children's book ''The Pony Express'', which won a

Bisto Bisto is a popular and well-known brand of gravy and other food products in the United Kingdom and Ireland, currently owned by Premier Foods. History The first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder which rapidly became a bes ...

Merit Award in 1994.

Work with Irish Women's Liberation Movement

Johnston worked as a core member of the

, a group of feminists working out of Dublin. They advocated for sexual and reproductive health and rights to contraceptives throughout Ireland. On 6 March 1971, on behalf of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, Johnston appeared on a Late Late Show panel with another founding group member,

Nell McCafferty Ellen Pamela McCafferty (28 March 1944 – 21 August 2024) was an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. She wrote for ''The Irish Press'', ''The Irish Times'', ''Sunday Tribune'', ''Hot Press'' and ''The Village Vo ...

. According to Rosita Sweetman, a member of the group, "Everything was going swimmingly until, of course, hot head

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 ...

, yes, that Mary Kenny, lobbed a hand grenade into the mix by proclaiming no Irish politician – at that stage nearly all Irish politicians were male – would bring in legislation that disturbed the glorious benefits of the patriarchy," and "all hell broke loose." The IWLM manifesto ''Chains or Change'' that had been introduced on the show sold out soon afterwards. In May 1971, the Irish Women's Liberation Movement sent a group of Irish women by way of '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 ...

' 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 ...

to buy contraceptives. At the time, contraception was illegal in the Republic of Ireland but was available in Belfast. On 22 May 1971 Johnston and a group of more than 40 women, as well as her partner, son and daughter, travelled to Belfast by train to purchase contraceptives. A Japanese television crew followed them to purchase the contraceptives, and the women proceeded back through customs without losing any of the items they obtained in Belfast. A mural to honour Johnston was made by the artist Fink (artist) on the shop front of Norton's Greengrocer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Máirín Living people 1931 births People from The Liberties, Dublin Irish women activists Irish women writers