Dublin’s Invisible Women
What do we think of when we think of statues of women in Dublin? Molly Malone is probably the first to spring to mind, selling cockles and mussels on Suffolk Street, or perhaps the gossiping ‘Hags with the Bags’ at Ha’penny bridge. How about the nameless women that adorn the statue of Daniel O’Connell on O’Connell Street, representing Patriotism, Courage, Eloquence and Fidelity as well as the Maid of Erin herself. But what of actual, real-life women? Women who performed great acts of service, who dedicated their lives to improving the lives of others? Some might argue that there aren’t enough of them, but history begs to differ.
On Easter Sunday in 1916, a young woman wearing a Red Cross and holding a white flag stepped onto Moore Street, directly into the range of the gund positioned at the nearby barricade. She stepped onto a street where the bodies of three elderly men holding white flags lay to convey a message of surrender. The now damiliar photo of Pearse’s surrender to General Lowe following the Easter Rising of 1916, in which Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell was present and subsequently airbrushed out of the photo, epitomises the history of revolutionary women in Ireland. The Republic that called on ‘Irishmen and Irishwomen’ that guaranteed them equal rights and liberties to their male counterparts was never realised. Instead the Irish Free State and later Republic legislated for the treatment of women as second-class citizens through enshrining her place in society within the home (in Article 41.2 of the Constitution, remains to present day), the marriage bar preventing married women from professional work (until 1973), and institutionalising ‘deviant’ women and girls (until 1996).
Countess Markievicz has long stood proud on Tara Street, but the erasure of other women from the revolutionary narrative is slowly being corrected thanks to the current Decade of Centenaries programme. But where can we find these ‘invisible’ women in Dublin? In 2014 a new bridge built across the river Liffey was named Rosie Hackett bridge after the revolutionary and trade union activist. She is also commemorated on a plaque on Foley Street alongside her comrades of teh Irish Citizen Army. Elizabeth O’Farrell Park on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay features a memorial to Nurse O’Farrell. A plaque at City Hall commemorates the ten women garrisoned there during the Rising, including the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karhleen Lynn who later founded St. Ultan’s Children’s Hospital. A current campaign is calling for the new National Children’s Hospital to be named after Dr. Lynn.
How can we achieve equality in our society without a concerted effort at equality in our built environment? There are thousands of women’s stories waiting to be told through our public statuary and institutions, and it is our responsibility to tell their stories and write them into our country’s narrative. If there are any stories of incredible Irish women in your area that you think should be told, contact me @tours.with.cait on Instagram to get them featured in a post!
