Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, this is a momentous day in that it is the centenary of some women being granted the right to vote before, four years later, in the case of Ireland, that was extended to all women on an equal basis with men. However, there are huge lessons to be learned for people engaged in social movements, in anti-austerity movements and in global feminist movements from the struggle that women waged 100 years ago. We see so many of the same tactics, for example, the tone policing against women that was experienced then and which we also saw in regard to the repeal movement recently. At that time, the women initially did the letter writing, the petitions and all of that, and, obviously, when that was ignored, the women had to consider what other tactics they would take. Would they take more direct action? Would they engage more collectively in a struggle with male allies in the trade union movement, which was growing at that time?

Even some of the forerunners of parties in this Chamber opposed women's suffrage, for example, the Irish Parliamentary Party and John Redmond in particular. The quote has already been cited that one of the leading MPs in the Irish Parliamentary Party at the time said it would be the ruination of Western civilisation and would lead to men's status being questioned. I think of the smashing of windows, the filling of pillar boxes with corrosive liquid, the axe throwing and a whip being used against leading political figures.

The establishment parties continually broke promises made to these women regarding legislation. It seemed as though the polite methods which they had employed had failed.

Previous speakers referred to Countess Markievicz. She obviously played an important role and deserves to have it recognised, but she should not be the only woman to be commemorated as part of this centenary. That would write out the women who also did a great deal. I will read some of their names into the record: Margaret Cousins, Kathleen Emerson, Mabel Purser, Barbara Hoskins, the Murphy sisters - whose birth names were Leila and Rosalind Garcias de Cadiz, who were born in India and later moved to Ireland - Marguerite Palmer, Hannah Sheehy Skeffington, Margaret Connery, Anna Haslam, Louie Bennett, Charlotte Despard, Mary Hayden, Delia Larkin, Isabella Tod and Marion Duggan. There were many more. All those women should be recognised. The common denominator among all of them was their determination. All were jailed. Many had to go on hunger strike to be recognised as political prisoners. Some were force-fed. Some took part in the Black Friday protest. There is currently a film in cinemas which makes a hero out of Winston Churchill, but on the occasion of Black Friday he ordered a crackdown on the suffragettes. Some 300 were assaulted by police, being punched, kicked, and thrown to the ground. Some were also sexually assaulted. Many of the women were then jailed afterwards. That is what they were up against. I acknowledge those women's bravery and determination.

This was not about the right to vote; it was very much linked to the overall situation of women in society. The women were engaged in campaigns against forced medical examinations on women, that they not be sexually shamed, for women's education, for housing and many of them were linked with the growing women's trade union movement in Ireland.

It was not just about votes for women. It was not bringing about the type of feminism that we see being hailed now, like Oprah Winfrey, a billionaire with no connection or sense of what most women on this planet ever face, or that of Hillary Clinton, a corporate feminist who is involved in Walmart, a company with a workforce which we see is totally exploited. Theirs was not the type of feminism that stays silent about five men on the planet controlling the same amount of wealth as 3.5 billion people. That is not the type of feminism for which we should fight. I have a message for anyone who is fighting for the repeal of the eighth amendment. Barriers were put in our way, particularly in the past five years. Some of those who spoke in the past few minutes were among those who put those barriers in place, but we can overcome. The people who granted the right for women to vote were initially some of its biggest opponents. Earlier, the five Cs were mentioned. The one C that was not mentioned is capitalism. It is not possible for women to have equality without challenging a capitalist system that breeds sexism.

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