International Women’s Day
and Cumann na mBan celebrated in Stormont
PEADAR WHELAN
Cumann na mBan
constitution stated it’s aims were to “advance the cause of Irish liberty and
to organise Irishwomen in the furtherance of this object”
A CELEBRATION of
International Women’s Day and the founding of the radical republican women’s
organisation Cumann na mBan took place in Sinn Féin’s conference room in
Stormont on Wednesday 5th March.
Cumann na mBan was founded
on April 2nd 1914 in Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin. Its constitution stated it’s aims
were to “advance the cause of Irish liberty and to organise Irishwomen in the
furtherance of this object”.
The Stormont event was
organised by South Armagh MLA Megan Fearon, the party’s spokesperson on women’s
issues, and attracted women activists from across the generations, not least a
strong contingent from ex-prisoners’ group Tar Anall’s Over-50s Women.
The author of
‘Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism’, Margaret Ward, was
the main speaker.
‘Unmanageable
Revolutionaries’ describes how Irish women, despite their frequent omission
from the history books, have always played a key role in the struggle for
independence. Ward focused on three pivotal Irish nationalist women’s
organisations – the Ladies’ Land League, Inghinidhe na hÉireann and Cumann na
mBan – to show that women have always been a driving force in Irish political
history.
Margaret Ward described
how, despite the resistance of some leaders of the Irish Volunteers, Cumann na
mBan Volunteers, in true revolutionary spirit, showed great leadership during
the 1916 Easter Rising and subsequently during the Tan War.
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An event marking International Women's Day and
celebrating the centenary of the founding of Cumann na mBan was held at
Stormont, among the speakers was Dr Margaret Ward author of 'Unmanageable
Revolutionaries”…
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Added on 06/03/2014
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