Women - Know your place!

So Here goes my first blog!

What even is a blog? Apparently it is short for weblog, I thought I would open with an interesting fact to beguile you into being interested in what I have to say, and now that I have your full attention the topic of this blog is women and the challenges they face in Irish Republicanism. 

I have been involved in Irish republicanism in some form or another properly since I was around 17, I grew up in a traditional Irish Republican home, and for me it was the norm and continues to be. It was never really a question I asked myself did I want to get involved in politics, it just naturally happened, no one in my home thought it strange and although my father would have been more involved politically than my mother, my mother  is as passionate about her country as him , as are my sisters. I grew up in a household with 3 sisters, my mother and with my father being the only male. Long and detailed political discussions are the norm around our kitchen table; being involved politically we often have political visitors who join in and this has been the case in my home since I can remember, we don’t always agree I may add. The one thing that doesn’t happen is that my father pulls rank of any kind, he gets as good as he gives and often times we never see eye to eye on certain subjects.

I am giving you this background because for me growing up and being a republican, gender was never brought into the equation, being a woman never meant that I was taken any less serious or that my opinion didn’t matter as much, or that I was accused of just parroting my father’s opinion. This of course is in the confines of my own home, the place I cut my teeth in political debate with my family and friends.

Que the real world of being in an organisation, dealing with people in various organisations and of course the advent of the internet meaning republicans are more connected than ever. Boy was I naïve to believe that Republicans were all cut from the same cloth and that they were all essentially extensions of my own family. I learned rapidly that being an opinionated Republican woman came with a lot of draw backs.

Republicanism can be a fractious place, I am not suggesting that men have it easy all of the time or that they are also not subject to rumour and innuendo, however the ease to which people will slander republican women is unbelievable. One of the main challenges I believe is that if something untoward is said about a man it is looked into and the man can be angry about it and perhaps even get it put to bed, the true is not the same of women, if women challenge the lies they get accused of trouble rising and then we have the old “the lady doth protest too much” scenario that often comes in to play.

The first real wake-up call I got about being a female in politics was while I was working on a campaign for a prisoner release, I received a phone call from a male in the same organisation but not a member of the campaign committee, I had been unable to do a media interview and arranged for someone else to do it. This man was unhappy at the person who I had chosen, the screaming phone call from him included a lot of profanities and the accusation that I had no authority and that I was only a “figure head” and that I should have consulted him,  I was in a senior position in the organisation and this person had no authority over me at all, he was a normal cumann member in a certain area, yet he thought it was OK to treat me like this, my male counterpart of course was never spoke to in this manner, nor would he have put up with it.

When I told others in the organisation of this incident there was no reprimand for this person and I was simply told that the persons pride wouldn’t allow him to apologise although he had privately acknowledged he was wrong, and I was expected to just let it go for an easy life, stupidly I did!
Looking at this particular incident there is no doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t apologise to me because I was a woman, because in his mind by virtue of the fact he was a male he was in a superior position to me and that it would hurt his ego and pride to apologise.

I like many other women in Republicanism have been subject to the old affair rumour also, what is surprising about these rumours is that they can be carried equally as much by other women as by men.  People are obsessed by private lives, the fact I don’t broadcast my private life all over the internet means I am subject to slander, rumour and innuendo. Apparently I only ever got anywhere in republicanism because I sleep with all the “top men” a laughable comment in itself. It would seem that it is too hard to believe that a woman can be taken seriously as a republican in her own right without some man behind her pulling the strings. It is hard not to be angry when people think you are getting credit not due to you, when in reality you’re actually sacrificing much of your personal life to keep things ticking over, spending hours preparing and researching, travelling all over the country, nervously putting your face all over the media which can and has cost me a number of jobs just to be told that any positivity that results from it is not in fact your input but some faceless fictitious man they have made up in their head.

Much of the other challenges that women face are subtle and we rarely even call them out, language used about women is in stark contrast to that of a man, while engaged in political debate you will be accused of moaning, screeching, bitching, whinging and every kind of political discussion is always of course for some hidden personal agenda, once I was even called hysterical while discussing a mundane subject that I genuinely wasn’t even really interested in. 
I have worked with many women in various republican organisations and I have found them to be amongst the most hardworking, dedicated republicans out there, very often working in the background doing the donkey work, these women go unappreciated.  Speaking with other women in and around Republicanism my experiences are not in isolation and indeed some other women have faced much worse than me.  

I like a bit of banter the same as the next person and this isn’t an attempt to call anyone out or make anyone feel bad, it certainly isn’t an attempt to villainise republican men because for the most part they are great, genuine and never derogatory or sexist. This kind of thing isn’t confined to republicanism either it is in all walks of life, my main message here is that we can all do better, that we should be more enlightened and that the next time someone tells you a ridiculous story about a woman to demean and slander her, be the person that openly says that it’s a load of crap and that you don’t want to hear it.

If you made it to the end of this blog well done, I promise they won’t all be as long winded J

Cáit

Comments

  1. Lady doth protest too much! Lol. Only joking cait great read

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  2. Nice one Cait and good luck with the blog. Hope this doesn't sound sexist but I reckon Kevin had his work cut out for him at that dinner table! Adh mhór

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    1. Thanks Sean -yep he defo doesn't get it easy with all us women, he should start a blog for therapy ha ha

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  3. I find that we, Republicans, are often willing to let "little" things slide because we don't want to rock the boat when it is already in choppy waters. We are prepared to do the old "say no more about it" routine so that we can continue with working towards The Republic. Except that this is usually only a short term fix. In the long run we are reinforcing negative behaviour and feeding the egos of those who engage in sexism or bullying. If we raised a child that was let away with such things we should not be surprised when they turn out to be terrible adults. A Movement filled with such people is an awful prospect.

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    1. It's time we rethink attitudes and be prepared to jump on things when we see wrong, if we don't it keeps going and net result is bullys running the thing and into the ground too I may add

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    2. Bang on! my sentiments exact an I was guilty o letting it ride for as I thought the sake o allowing us to continue with the work . No more tho my voice an opinion is as valid as the man nxt to me

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  4. A great read Cáit, and very well put. A real shame given that some of the strongest republicans were women: Countess Markievicz, Máire Drumm; and indeed all of Cumann na mBán. The real philosophy of republicanism is true gender equality. No one should talk down (or up to) anyone purely based on gender. There is no place for misogyny or misandry for that matter.

    Beir bua and keep the blog lit!

    Dave.

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  5. Great to know someone is addressing this issue, I myself have been bitten, spat at an been the subject of much abuse. Sadly women who witness these things happen remain quiet and you are so right report incidents an your a trouble maker etc more power to you ✊��

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    1. Women and men definitely need to address this issue, it's not good enough anymore to turn blind eyes.

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  6. Delighted you got round to hosting a blog! Will be an avid reader, as I was on your FB posts... Comrade Davey, Longford...

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