2009 Press Releases
Conference: Irish Feminisms and the Future
01.05.2009
The position of women in Ireland and the impact of the current downturn from a woman’s perspective will be the focus of a conference taking place at UCC on Saturday next, May 9th 2009.
01.05.2009
The position of women in Ireland and the impact of the current downturn from a woman’s perspective will be the focus of a conference taking place at UCC on Saturday next, May 9th 2009.
Hosted by UCC’s Board of Women’s Studies, the conference titled “Irish Feminisms and the Future” will also see the launch of a book by London-based Ann Rossiter PhD.
The keynote presentation will be jointly given by well-known feminist and academic Ailbhe Smyth and journalist Therese Caherty. They recently established the Feminist Open Forum in Dublin to provide a space for women to discuss experiences, exchange ideas and work for change. They will talk about their personal and political reasons for doing this.
Orla O’Connor, Head of Policy with the National Women’s Council of Ireland will argue that the economic recession has put the spotlight on the need to change a social welfare system that is still based on a male breadwinner model and enforces women’s economic dependency.
Angela O’Connell (who is completing a PhD in NUI Galway) will argue that a number of published government strategies, including the National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016, recognise a need for positive action to support equality legislation. She uses the example of lesbian families to discuss the ways in which already vulnerable families are hit in a period of recession.
Mary Crilly of the Sexual Violence Centre, Cork, will ask ‘What has changed, if anything, in responses to sexual violence in the past twenty-five years?’
Nusha Yonkova of the Immigrant Council of Ireland will discuss the recent report on Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution – the Experience of Migrant Women.
Community artist Martina Hynan will discuss a project in which women use their memories of childbirth to create artworks representing their personal experiences.
Ann Daly (recently completed a PhD at Maynooth) will draw on research on gynaecology in the nineteenth century to make connections with the Neary case in a paper titled ‘The craze for spaying…’
Catherine Conlon (Ad Astra/Crisis Pregnancy Agency PhD Scholar, Women’s Studies, UCD) was one of the authors of the 1998 report on crisis pregnancies whose recommendation led to the establishment of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. Ten years after the publication of that report, Catherine will explore some of the insights, understandings and questions that have arisen for her as she continues to research issues around crisis pregnancy.
Patricia Kennedy, who lectures in Social Policy in UCD, will draw on joint research (with Budapest based Heili Einasto) to compare maternity legislation in Ireland and Estonia and suggest that the present economic crisis may be an ‘explosive moment’ that will shape policy in Ireland.
Ann Coakley, of Carlow College will look at how childcare policy was developed in Ireland using a market model that contrasts with state investment in Nordic countries. She will discuss the changing partnership between state and family in the context of rising unemployment and increased migration in Europe.
Jennifer Dewan (who recently completed a PhD at Columbia NY that looked at the women’s movement in Cork) will discuss the dramatic changes in the women’s movement since the 1970s and the ways in which, today, organisations coalesce to campaign on important issues.
The Conference takes place on May 9th in Brookfield Health and Sciences Building UCC, 10am-4.30pm. All are welcome.
________________
The conference will provide the venue for the Cork launch of a book by London-based Ann Rossiter PhD.
Ann Rossiter’s book is an oral history that begins the telling of the story of the more than 150,000 women who have travelled to Britain for abortions, in the past 40 or so years. She does this by telling her own story and letting others tell their stories of the establishment and work of the Irish women’s Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and the Irish Abortion Solidarity Campaign (Iasc). The book tells how, these groups supported individual women who travelled for abortions, met them at airports and stations, put them up in their homes and sometimes accompanied them to clinics. It also tells a wider story of Irish women in Britain, of emigrant groups there and of the pro-choice movement.
Dr Ann Rossiter is a long-standing feminist who has been involved in the Irish Women's Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and Irish Abortion Support Group (Iasc - as in the Irish for 'fish' ) for many years. A native of Bruree, Co. Limerick, she has lived in London for nearly half a century. She has also been an activist in feminist groups concerned with women and nationalist issues, such as Women and Ireland and the London Armagh Group. The latter was set up to oppose the treatment of republican women prisoners, in particular the practice of strip searching. She has written a number of articles and essays on these subjects and holds a doctorate in the history of the encounter between Irish and English feminists during the years of 'the Troubles'. She taught Irish Studies for over a decade at various institutions, including Kilburn Polytechnic (now the College of North West London), Birbeck, London Metropolitan and Luton Universities.
For further information on the conference contact Dr Sandra McAvoy 087 2381183.
1078MMcS
The keynote presentation will be jointly given by well-known feminist and academic Ailbhe Smyth and journalist Therese Caherty. They recently established the Feminist Open Forum in Dublin to provide a space for women to discuss experiences, exchange ideas and work for change. They will talk about their personal and political reasons for doing this.
Orla O’Connor, Head of Policy with the National Women’s Council of Ireland will argue that the economic recession has put the spotlight on the need to change a social welfare system that is still based on a male breadwinner model and enforces women’s economic dependency.
Angela O’Connell (who is completing a PhD in NUI Galway) will argue that a number of published government strategies, including the National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016, recognise a need for positive action to support equality legislation. She uses the example of lesbian families to discuss the ways in which already vulnerable families are hit in a period of recession.
Mary Crilly of the Sexual Violence Centre, Cork, will ask ‘What has changed, if anything, in responses to sexual violence in the past twenty-five years?’
Nusha Yonkova of the Immigrant Council of Ireland will discuss the recent report on Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution – the Experience of Migrant Women.
Community artist Martina Hynan will discuss a project in which women use their memories of childbirth to create artworks representing their personal experiences.
Ann Daly (recently completed a PhD at Maynooth) will draw on research on gynaecology in the nineteenth century to make connections with the Neary case in a paper titled ‘The craze for spaying…’
Catherine Conlon (Ad Astra/Crisis Pregnancy Agency PhD Scholar, Women’s Studies, UCD) was one of the authors of the 1998 report on crisis pregnancies whose recommendation led to the establishment of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. Ten years after the publication of that report, Catherine will explore some of the insights, understandings and questions that have arisen for her as she continues to research issues around crisis pregnancy.
Patricia Kennedy, who lectures in Social Policy in UCD, will draw on joint research (with Budapest based Heili Einasto) to compare maternity legislation in Ireland and Estonia and suggest that the present economic crisis may be an ‘explosive moment’ that will shape policy in Ireland.
Ann Coakley, of Carlow College will look at how childcare policy was developed in Ireland using a market model that contrasts with state investment in Nordic countries. She will discuss the changing partnership between state and family in the context of rising unemployment and increased migration in Europe.
Jennifer Dewan (who recently completed a PhD at Columbia NY that looked at the women’s movement in Cork) will discuss the dramatic changes in the women’s movement since the 1970s and the ways in which, today, organisations coalesce to campaign on important issues.
The Conference takes place on May 9th in Brookfield Health and Sciences Building UCC, 10am-4.30pm. All are welcome.
________________
The conference will provide the venue for the Cork launch of a book by London-based Ann Rossiter PhD.
Ann Rossiter’s book is an oral history that begins the telling of the story of the more than 150,000 women who have travelled to Britain for abortions, in the past 40 or so years. She does this by telling her own story and letting others tell their stories of the establishment and work of the Irish women’s Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and the Irish Abortion Solidarity Campaign (Iasc). The book tells how, these groups supported individual women who travelled for abortions, met them at airports and stations, put them up in their homes and sometimes accompanied them to clinics. It also tells a wider story of Irish women in Britain, of emigrant groups there and of the pro-choice movement.
Dr Ann Rossiter is a long-standing feminist who has been involved in the Irish Women's Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and Irish Abortion Support Group (Iasc - as in the Irish for 'fish' ) for many years. A native of Bruree, Co. Limerick, she has lived in London for nearly half a century. She has also been an activist in feminist groups concerned with women and nationalist issues, such as Women and Ireland and the London Armagh Group. The latter was set up to oppose the treatment of republican women prisoners, in particular the practice of strip searching. She has written a number of articles and essays on these subjects and holds a doctorate in the history of the encounter between Irish and English feminists during the years of 'the Troubles'. She taught Irish Studies for over a decade at various institutions, including Kilburn Polytechnic (now the College of North West London), Birbeck, London Metropolitan and Luton Universities.
For further information on the conference contact Dr Sandra McAvoy 087 2381183.
1078MMcS