Feminist's boots were made for walking!
dublin |
gender and sexuality |
press release 
Tuesday March 04, 2008 21:31
by Niav - Feminist Walking Tour
feministwalkingtour at yahoo dot ie
Press Release for the Feminist Walking Tour of Dublin.
This year feminists in Dublin will be celebrating International Women’s Day, 8th March 2008, by taking to the streets for a Walking Tour of Dublin. This guided walk will visit several sites relevant to the history of Irish women. This entertaining and educational tour will begin at St Stephen’s Green Arch at 14:30 on Saturday, 8th March and will last approximately two hours.
The walking tour has been organised by Choice Ireland in association with the RAG collective and other women's groups and individuals. An information booklet and map has been produced to accompany the walk. The walking tour will be followed by a social event in the Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
Commenting Niav Keating said:
“From the Monto to the Magdalene laundries, the tour will bring the sexual history of Irish women to life. We are delighted to have Carol Hunt conducting the tour. The aim of the tour is highlight the many achievements of the women’s movement in Ireland. However, we still have a long way to go”.
Niav Keating added:
“In 2008, women are told that they are equal to men and that there is no longer a need for feminism. However, thirty years after equal pay legislation women earn on average 11% less than men. Ireland has one of the worst parliamentary gender balances in the democratic world. Currently, only 22 of the 166 TDs in Leinster House are women. Ireland also has one of the most draconian abortion laws in Europe”.
Quotes end.
For further information and comment:
Niav Keating 086 329 3741
Choice Ireland is a diverse group of Pro-Choice activists campaigning for free, safe and legal abortion services in Ireland. The RAG is a magazine published annually by an anarchafeminist group based in Dublin.
Related Link: http://www.choiceireland.blogspot.com
Related Link: http://www.ragdublin.blogspot.com
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9the after-event will take place from 5 and will include soup (for hungry walkers!), film screening, information table/RAG distro and music from Heathers www.myspace.com/heatherswhatsyourdamage
if anyone is interested but can't make the day, email us for copies of the (beautiful, informative and free!) booklet - pdf or hard copy
Bravo! An inspiration to women all over!
I'm still in school and find it strange to read a lot ot the 'feminist' material put out by older women. I hope everybody enjoys the walk. Walking is good. I know a lot of old women still say there is not equality with men but there is. It is there in the law and if anyone breaks the law you can take them to court. It is like immigrants or someone with disability or anything. If you are discriminated against there is a law to protect you. So wtf?
It is a bit funny to see people still living in the 1960's. It's like 'far out man'. As well as that the Magdalene laundries is a place where young women were abused by older women who had really outdated ideas about sexuality and morality. Maybe some women should take a few moments to think when they get there.
thanks for your comments. i don't think any of us involved in organising the tour were around in the 1960's - but a few of us scraped into the last years of the 70's!
there's space for feminism today - and a need for it. RAG and Choice Ireland formed in the last couple of years, and most of us have been learning about feminism from scratch - those 60's women were pretty cool - and the women of the early 1900's were pretty amazing too. feminism kindof disappears in between times - from the 1930s on because the catholic church was so strong, and from the mid 1980's on cos the consumerist push into (yawn) "celtic tiger" ireland was so strong. feminism has been turned into a dirty word. i reckon it's only by delving back into its history that you can decide to take it and use it for your own purposes today.
i hear what you are saying about laws - but laws aren't really there to protect women - and the court system is a fucked up place to be (eg - pursuing a rape conviction and getting your sexual history dragged up in front of the courts). in ireland rape has only been illegal within marriage for about 10 years - and in that time there has been only one conviction (in 2006). do you reckon there's only been one woman raped by her husband in ireland since 1996?
if you mean sexual inequalities and sexism in the workplace - that happen at a level that most people are unlikely to go to court over, but it's there. from nudey posters, to sexist joke emails, to structual pay inequalities between men and women (like why is it more valuable to be a builder than a chidcare worker)
then you could think about the representation of women in media, advertising, art, music videos etc. the messages we are still given about ourselves about being unworthy or only good for one thing.. the double standards for young men and women (we can be sluts or frigid, but men don't have to worry about their reputations!)
not that the sysem (it's called patriarchy - it took me about a year of reading the word to have any idea what it meant!) is so great for men either - especially for those who can't or don't want to live up to the super masculine idea.
there is still useless catholic controlled sex education. has anyone ever talked to you about consent or boundaries for example? have you ever had an open discussion in your school on the topic of choice? (not the rights or wrongs of abortion - but the rights and wrongs of not allowing someone to make their own moral choice!)
the magdelene laundries were not only wrong because the nuns abused the girls in there, but because of the whole society that created them - this moral idea of "fallen women" - be they prostitutes, single mothers, raped women, victims of domestic violence or whatever - women who did not fit into society - being turned over to repent in christ. this kindof bullshit idea about wicked sexual women still persists. and we need to know feminism to see it and challenge it - even in our everyday lives.
i'm going on - but feminism is alive today - not as some 60's relic - but as something new and waiting for young women (and men) to take up the challenge to learn about its history and to take its message of respect and freedom into the future. but as you say, older women can't do it for you - we can only hope you do it yoursef!
come tomorrow if you can, the after-event will be fun - with a short film about the future of feminism and another one about breaking the stigma around abortion and music from heathers (who are also still at school!) if you can't come, email us and we'll send you a booklet.
eh - ps - oops for long response if you are a troll!
Thanks for organising this, Choice Ireland!
If anyone can't make it to the tour they will be very welcome to come to the Teacher's Club afterwards to join us. We will be there hopefully from 5pm to 8pm.
Does anyone have a photo/ news story from the day?
Hopefully a report on the event will be posted up soon. If anyone has any photographs or comments on the day we'd really welcome them. Contact feministwalkingtour @ yahoo.ie
or post them up here.
http://chipbruce.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/feminist-walk...blin/
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