40 Years Of Feminism In One Night

One of the quirks of a festival is that the events you think are going to be massive hits mightn’t be that at all and events you think might have niche interest are insanely popular. Not that this event wasn’t going to be popular but demand was such that it was moved from the Parade Tower to the Ormonde Hotel so it could fit as many bums on seats as possible. Even at that there was still a lot of folks standing at the back eager to take as much of a gander as possible at the event. So yes, a sell out hit for sure.

The focus was on tracking where Irish feminism begin and where it was going to. Chaired by Diarmaid Ferriter (last seen around these parts for last year’s GAA Blood and Thunder) the event featured contributions from Margaret MacCurtain, Catriona Crowe, Nell McCafferty and Bridget Fitzsimons. The first speaker up was Margaret MacCurtain who gave a quite short but to the point contribution in which she spoke of her roots in the movement and how the focus of her generation was on getting the vote. She also spoke fondly of her involvement with the Kilkenny Women’s Group of the 1970’s and was delighted to find so many members were in attendance. She got a great reception throughout, rather fitting for a woman that was repeatedly referred to as a ‘national treasure’.

Next up was Catriona Crowe, former President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland. She focused mostly on shining a light on the early members of the Irish feminist movement and providing a bibliography for works she felt best chronicled the movement (I’m hoping to get my hands on that bibliography soon and I’ll post it up as soon as I do). She finished by checking off the to do list in terms of what was demanded by Irish women in the past and remarked that we have come remarkably far, but that there is certainly a lot more work to do.

Nell McCafferty was up next and in her own indomitable style, completely stole the show with a freewheeling, often rambling, all encompassing talk. Her talk wasn’t particularly pointed and if I’m being charitable, it didn’t really seem to go anywhere in particular. But what it definitely was, was entertaining. She managed to fly through a series of points like her confusion as to what feminism actually was in the early days, paternity rights, DNA, her enjoyment (or lack thereof) of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, her fears of Larry Murphy turning up near her house, turkey basting and how she has no sympathy for the young. Quite rambling at times but highly entertaining, Nell McCafferty is certainly one of a kind.

Finally, the youngest member of the quartet, Bridget Fitzsimons celebrated her 21^st birthday by taking to the podium and addressing the packed house about the issues that effect her generation as it stands. Her focus was mostly from a college perspective but it was insightful and merited strong analysis of how women are portrayed in the Irish media nowadays. She lashed rightful scorn on the stupid promotional launches that focus on naked women and how ‘UCD is an inherently sexist campus’, particularly in the use of gender specific roles when it comes to college promotions. She won’t have won herself any fans from the Twilight brigade when she laid rubbished the publishing phenomenon as being ridiculously anti feminist and a bad example of how girl’s should see themselves. My position at the back of the room allowed me the scope to see a lot of teenage girls shuffle awkwardly for that one. (By the by, here's my interview with Bridget Fitzsimon's from earlier in the day)

All in all, this multi-faceted talk was an entertaining, thought provoking and empowering walk through the last four decades of Irish feminism. The Ormonde’s Kilbride Suite was a sweat box by the end of it (as it usually is), but most people didn’t seem to care as the audience applauded wildly at the end of a truly significant and celebratory occasion.

 - John

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