2012 School

The second Countess Markievicz School took place on 12th May 2012 in the Teachers' Club, Dublin.  A panel explored the position of women and the Constitution. We asked were the suffragettes such as Markievicz who fought for equality in 1916 let down in 1937? The costly burden of childcare in Ireland and the status of women and their activism in communities were discussed.  Senator Katherine Zappone provided a surprise when she unveiled a brooch Countess Markievicz had made & given to the mother of an elderly neighbour in Co. Wicklow. There was lots of lively debate and a sing song at the end!

Markievicz lecture: First Wave Feminism

Dr. Margaret Ward, Director, Women's Resource & Development Agency, Belfast

Dr Margaret Ward is the Director of the Women’s Resource and Development Agency, a regional organization based in Belfast, and Chair of ‘Hanna’s House’, an all-Ireland women’s peace building project named in memory of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, a leading figure in the Irish suffrage movement.  In the 1980s she was Women’s Officer in the Community Services Department of Belfast City Council. In the 1990s she had academic posts at Bath Spa University and the University of the West of England.  Her publications include Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish nationalism,published in 1983, the first major study of Irish nationalist women; biographies of Maud Gonne and Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and (with Louise Ryan) Irish Women and nationalism: soldiers, new women and wicked hags and Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens.
https://vimeo.com/42050960

Women & the Constitution

Catherine McGuinness, former Supreme Court Judge

Catherine McGuinness – former Supreme Court Judge. Catherine was called to the Bar in 1977 and to the Inner Bar in 1989. She was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1979-82 and was a previous member of the Council of State from 1988-90. She served as a Judge of the Circuit Court from 1994-1996, of the High Court from 1996-2000 and of the Supreme Court from 2000-2006. From 2005-2011, she was President of the Law Reform Commission. She is currently the Adjunct Professor of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway and is also a member of the Council of State.
https://vimeo.com/42067794

Camille Loftus, Lecturer in Social Policy & Politics, NUIM, UCD, IPH

Camille Loftus is a socio-economic researcher who has worked with a number of national advocacy organisations, including the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, OPEN, the National Womens Council of Ireland, Focus Ireland and Mandate Trade Union. Her primary interests are concerned with poverty and equality particularly in relation to the labour market. She has worked in national social partnership, and is a former member of the NESC. Currently she is lecturing in social policy and politics in UCD, NUIM and the IPA, and is pursuing a social policy PhD.
https://vimeo.com/42066680

Senator Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Law, TCD

Senator Ivana Bacik, LLB, LLM (Lond), BL, FTCD, is Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, and a practising barrister. She is a Labour Party Senator for Dublin University (elected 2007 and re-elected 2011), and became Deputy Leader of Seanad Eireann in May 2011. Ivana has written and published extensively on criminal law, criminology, human rights, constitutional law and related matters, and has a long track record of campaigning on civil liberties, penal reform and feminist issues. Her publications include Kicking and Screaming: Dragging Ireland into the Twenty-First Century (O’Brien Press, 2004).
https://vimeo.com/42051853

Women & Care

Mariam Bhatti, Domestic Workers Action Group, MRCI

Mariaam Bhatti is South African and has been living in Ireland since July 2010.  She is am a member of  the Domestic Workers Action Group (DWAG) and Forced Labour Action Group of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) and one of the leading Activists advocating for the rights, better treatment and dignity of all workers in unregulated sectors especially the vulnerable ones like migrant  women working as domestic workers who are often invisible workers.
https://vimeo.com/42083250

Prof. Kathleen Lynch, Equality Studies, UCD

Kathleen Lynch is Professor of Equality Studies in University College Dublin, where she holds a Senior Lectureship in Education. She took part in the Gender Excellence Programme (GEXcel) at the Universities of Linskoping and Orebro, Sweden in 2010 and was appointed to the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences(IRCHSS). She is the co-author of several books, including Equality: From Theory to Action and Affective Equality, Love, Care & Injustice.  Kathleen is a passionate community activist.
https://vimeo.com/42083775

Dr. Niall Hanlon, lecturer in Social Science, Dublin Business School

Dr. Niall Hanlon is a lecturer in Social Science at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in Dublin Business School. His academic interests include social care, gender and masculinities.  He is the author of Masculinities, Care and Equality: identity and nurture in men’s lives (Palgrave), due for publication in August 2012
https://vimeo.com/42073358

Women's Voices in the Community

Éilish Corcoran, Longford Women's Link/Women's Manifesto

Éilish is Development Officer with Longford Women’s Link, Women’s Manifesto Project,which seeks to reconnect women with the local democratic process. Prior to the Women’s Manifesto Project, Eilish worked in advocacy and policy on a range of women’s issues including domestic violence and women’s community education. Before that she worked as the Coordinator of a training and education programme for immigrants seeking additional supports in Ireland.  She holds a Master’s degree in Politics and Equality Studies and a BA in History and Politics from University College Dublin.
https://vimeo.com/42085786

Cathleen O'Neill, Kilbarrack Community Development Project

Cathleen O’Neill is a community activist focused on equality, anti-poverty work and the situation of women. She is currently manager of Kilbarrack Community Development Project, one of the few remaining CDP’s left in place. Cathleen also has a personal interest in social class issues and related history and is also a lover of poetry, literature and Bushmills whiskey.
https://vimeo.com/42092804

Dr. Katherine Zappone, Senator & co-founder of An Cosán

Dr. Katherine Zappone is an educator, public policy and management expert. Katherine was appointed as Senator to Seanad Eireann in 2011. She is a former Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights Commission. Katherine is co-founder of An Cosán in Tallaght. Katherine was involved in the public policy arena first as Chief Executive of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, and more recently as a Director of The Centre for Progressive Change.  She has also taught ethics, practical theology and education in TCD. She has published research in national equality frameworks, effective children’s services, equal opportunity in education, theology and spirituality, and human rights.
https://vimeo.com/42118411