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 1970. The group was short-lived, but influential.

Background

In the 1970s in Ireland, women were denied certain rights based on their gender. Women could not keep their jobs for public service or for banks if they got married, they could not sit on a jury, collect children's allowance, get a restraining order, own a family home, refuse marital sex, choose her own official place of domicile or be paid the same wages for the same work as men. Women could also not buy contraceptives. Divorce was illegal and "single mothers, widows and deserted wives faced dire poverty." Homosexuality was also illegal, so lesbians could not express their feelings freely.

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 had their meetings in Gaj's restaurant on Baggot Street every Monday. Gaj's restaurant was owned by Margaret Gaj who was a feminist socialist activist. It was initially started with twelve women, most of whom were journalists.

The IWLM was democratically organized, 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 disorganized 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 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.
• 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 Mairin Johnston represented the IWLM on The Late Late Show for a lively debate soon after it was published. The later Taoiseach of Ireland, Garrett FitzGerald, 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 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

Main article: Contraceptive Train

On May 22, 1971 forty-seven members of the Irish Women's Liberation Network took the Dublin to Belfast train to import contraception over the Irish border and this became known as the Contraceptive Train. Reportedly, they "gleefully waved" condoms in the faces of the customs men. 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 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 Maher, who was from Chicago, contributed ideas from the American feminist movement to the group. Writer, Nell McCafferty was Women's rights activist, Nuala Fennell 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.

External links

• Excerpt from Chains or Change