Audio from the 2009 & 2010 Feminist Walking Tours

dublin | gender and sexuality | news report

Tuesday March 09, 2010 14:53

by editing and recording by Andrew Flood - WSM - personal capacity

On Sunday to mark international Women's Day over 150 people took part in the annual Feminist Walking Tour in Dublin organised by Choice Ireland, RAG, Lash Back and friends. These are audio recordings of all seven stops of the tour plus audio recordings from three of the stops from the 2009 tour.

From the tour handout
The idea behind the FWT is to highlight a history which is so often neglected or forgotten. A history that has made Ireland what it is, and contributed to the social, political and cultural topography of Dublin for as long as the city has existed. That is, of course, the history of women: our past, our present, and our ever-evolving future.

Let's rejoice in the women seeking equality, let's lament the women who have been oppressed or erased from history's pages, and let's inspire the women who will blaze a trail for generations to come. Knowledge is power, so we need to make sure the stories of our mothers, daughters and sisters are not lost simply because they were not documented in statues, or recorded in libraries. From members of the Women's Land League and Cumann na mBan – so important in creating our republic – who were literally wiped from photos in political airbrushing, to the horror of the Magdalene Laundries (the last of which only closed in 1996), to the vital accession of immigrant women and their daughters, who will shape the Ireland of the future. Let's remember, let's talk, let's think, let's share...and let's walk!

The first four stops are

1. Sinead from Choice Ireland introducing the tour at the Central Bank meet up point. 2.5 minutes

2. Sinead speaking outside the site of the Irish Women’s Workers Union in Temple Bar on women in the unions followed by Aliya Hussain of Akidwa speaking on Female Genital Mutilation. 9 minutes

3. This segment has Ariel speaking on LGBT activism and particularly queer women in Irish history on the boardwalk by the Liffey just down from Outhouse. 6 minutes

4. Sinead on the Dunnes Stores anti-Apartheid strike of 1984 outside Dunnes Stores off Henry Street and on women in the 1916 insurrection followed by ? on the history of 16 Moore street. 11 minutes

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The rest of the audio will be posted as comments to this article in the next while