Date: Saturday 14 April 2018
Time: 10:00 – 14:15 IST
Venue: The Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
The 2018 Sheehy Skeffington School, on the theme 'Rights, Representation and Reality', takes place on April 14th in the Ireland Institute, Pearse Street, Dublin. The school's focus this year is on celebrating the centenary of some women getting the vote in 1918 but it also poses questions, 100 years on, about just how representative Irish political institutions are. There continues to be a worrying under-representation, not merely of women, but of a range of other groups including people living in poverty and new communities.
Speakers will draw inspiration from the achievements of the suffrage movement in 1918, and the Northern Ireland and US civil rights movements of 1968, to explore how activists can address this under-representation and help promote and develop a 21st century human rights agenda.
Independent Senator Lynn Ruane will speak on 'Limited Liberty', addressing the impact of intergenerational poverty and educational and entrenched inequality on the ability of women to exercise choice and social responsibility. Michael Farrell, solicitor, author and lifelong human rights activist, will discuss how lessons from the NI and US civil rights movements can inform the work of human rights activists today.
Other speakers include Dr Claire McGing of NUI Maynooth, who will focus on 'Gendered Citizenship and Representation in the Republic of Ireland' and historian Dr Margaret Ward whose address, entitled "A Symbol of Freedom", examines Hanna Sheehy Skeffington's assessment of the position of women in post-suffrage Ireland.
Micheline Sheehy Skeffington will give an illustrated talk on the campaigns of her grandparents Francis and Hanna and award winning poet, novelist and short story writer Mary Dorcey will read from her work.
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