Being an alternative voice
One woman's story of growing up in Derry, challenging cultural divides, and helping clear the path for women in leadership roles.
The second in "The Women's Stories" series, sharing the lives and experiences of individual participants of the Women of Ireland Project
Irish Child Psychologist Dr Sheila Greene has described how each child, growing up in Ireland, is influenced not only by the collective culture of a wider society but also by their own personal culture:
“Each Irish child has his or her own 'personal' culture and the Irish culture or 'collective' culture consists of the sum total of the manifestations of culture past and present by and in those who call themselves Irish. Each child is developing and growing in a complex environment or ecosystem. But each child's eco-system is different and is also constructed selectively and idiosyncratically by the child. Thus, the personal ecology of each child is different while being influenced by the messages embedded in the surrounding culture and its daily realities".
In other words, each child has their own inner culture but is also affected by the messages of the outer, collective culture. For Cora, growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the 1970s and 1980s, the messages of the outer, collective culture were strong and constraining. She was born into a culture of labels, defined lines and segregated spaces; Protestants here, Catholics there, ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, this is a space for Men, that is the space for Women. Yet, this never sat well with her own inner, personal culture; there was a culture clash.
Driven by this cultural clash her life has, in many ways, been dedicated to stepping across the cultural, religious and gender divides she grew up with. From a young age, she questioned the religious and cultural ‘invisible lines’ her community and family upheld, challenged sectarian divides and the hypocrisy of traditional gender roles. Her story is one of questioning and actively challenging the many taken-for-granted norms she was born into. She has sought to be ‘an alternative voice’, seeking to heal sectarian divides and working to ‘clear the path’ for women in leadership roles.
Cora experienced the objectification and sexualisation of her body from a young age, which left her feeling like her body was not always her own. At the same time, growing up in a Protestant community left her feeling culturally bereft; aspects of Irish culture never felt hers to access. In both these areas of her life, she has found The Land to be a powerful healing force. In more recent years, she has actively engaged in nature-based work, finding it a powerful way to reclaim her own body and connect to a sense of rootedness that goes beyond religion and the sectarian symbols of identity she grew up with. The Land has been her guide and her healer.
Cora’s story is of a woman who has dedicated herself to helping her community, unpicking the limiting beliefs of the culture she grew up in, pushing the boundaries of the roles and norms assigned to women, and addressing the silences needed to enable collective healing.
“I was born in Derry, in Northern Ireland” [and] “I grew up in an area in Derry called the Waterside”.
“Derry is kind of split with the river, you know, there's a Cityside and a Waterside, and I suppose I was born into what would be termed a Protestant community background. So born into this sort of label, which, in some ways, it's one of the things…. one of the boxes I've been grappling with, as I grew up in Derry”.
“I went to a segregated school. So, our education was pretty, like, my school was… an all-Protestant primary school. And, you know, in Derry, and across the North we're still pretty segregated, in so many ways”.
“I…. grew up, I suppose heavily influenced by the Presbyterian Church, at that time. And the church was our social life, everything, you know, your badminton club, your youth club, everything was through the church. And as I got a bit older, I sort of rebelled against that, because, you know, women; the woman in the Presbyterian Church are the backbone of the church, but they're also…. the kind of least valued…they're looking after everybody and ‘making the teas’ and working like ‘worker bees’, you know”.
“Like if there was a funeral—a wake— was a perfect example [of how the women organised and did everything] …. the women just come alive in this organising, supporting thing…. And the church had the big kitchen, you know [and]…. the women obviously spent a lot of time there. And in some ways, that's where they have the craic too because there was no craic to be had in the formal spaces”.
“So, I think those women…. they never expected anything, there was no… sense of…. even wanting to be thanked, or, you know, no sense of doing it for any other reason than just doing it, and I suppose maybe for their faith as well… Yes, the work, the hard graft was done by the women in the church…. they ran everything. And in terms of being valued, I think their voices, like, they never had a voice, you know, you wouldn't find a space where they had a voice. The elders were usually all men. And so, I think that was a piece…. that annoyed me”.
“I suppose all the preachers are always men. And I know that that's a trigger point for me, even to this day, even when I'm being preached at by a man, I have this really like, Ooohh [reaction]”.
[Although] “I was very grateful for the community that the church offered me, but…. I just didn't fit in there, you know. And didn't agree necessarily with a lot of the messages that came out”.
[So] “I just increasingly got very frustrated with the hypocrisy of the church”
“I stayed as long as we were forced to go to church; until we were 16. And then we could make a decision. And, of course, I made the decision, and I left and never returned”.
“And I suppose the other rebellion that happened at the same time was probably in relation to a sort of sectarian rebellion”.
[So] “In our family, you know, people were a big fan of Ian Paisley at the time, and I couldn't be doing with Ian Paisley. And I suppose that was the start of maybe a slight rebellion against these older men that were making all these decisions that, you know, that we had to live with… and I remember at the time, sitting at the dinner table and our dinner table, like I was very shy, and I didn't really speak very much, I was quite quiet and I just sat and listened and observed. To speak at the dinner table was quite a big thing because there was so much else going on, and my sister, she would never even stop for breath most of the time. [But] one day we were sitting at the table and my Daddy was chatting about Ian Paisley, and I happen to say… “Ian Paisley's a bigot”. Well, the onslaught for that comment! So, I decided not to say anything for a good while after that about it. But it was interesting, you know, starting to think, like, I really disagree with my family and so many of these things and I have good friends who are Catholic, and they're totally fine, you know, and starting to…. feel like, I didn't belong in that family… in my own family, I suppose, or there was something wrong with that sectarian kind of, that sectarian narrative, you know, and that was really what set me off”.
[Like] “My family were, like a great, lovely family…. but there were very strong views about…. Catholics and Protestants and the Pope….and Irish. And…. when I went to secondary school, I ended up mixing more with other people from other backgrounds. So, at that age, 12 or 13, my best friend…. came from the Cityside. And I used to sneak over to her house, and we used to go to Saturday morning Mass. I thought if my mother finds out she'd kill me!”
“But I thought this is great. This is so exciting. Like, our church was really boring and then all of a sudden, there was this [Catholic} church [and]…they're standing up and sitting down and all these other you know, shaking hands with people and 'Peace be with you', and I thought 'Oh, I really like that', you know. So, it just seemed so much more exciting. And Bridget [too[ and learning about St. Bridget's crosses and all these cultural things that I think I always felt like were not mine and I wasn't allowed them”.
[And feeling that I wasn’t allowed them was] “not just [because of] Presbyterianism, but probably just even because of your family. Like, there are these lines that are invisible, and I suppose I've often, like I've stepped over quite a few of them [but]… as a woman, like it's harder to step over them, because I think you're disciplined or shamed not to cross [the lines]”.
[So] “I think [in a way] I felt a bit jealous [of this other culture I wasn’t allowed to access], like my friend…. who lived in the Cityside…. I used to see the St. Bridget’s crosses in [their] house. And, you know, there were all these other symbols [associated with Catholicism], I suppose, that had [a much deeper and older] meaning”.
[Whereas] “I think our symbols, the symbols that I grew up with were symbols about ‘Us and Them’, you know…. a lot of our symbols were very, like, they felt very sectarian, very military, you know, flags, and the hand of Ulster. And I didn't connect with any of that…. I grew up really hating flags, you know”.
[But what I liked about a lot of symbols associated with Catholicism is they] “almost go way back before any of this [sectarianism] started [they go back to a time] before Christianity. I feel like there is that connection to something that's, you know, we get so caught up in The Troubles… like we get caught in terms of talking about symbolism in relation to The Troubles [and politics] but going way back beyond [all that] I find helpful”.
[But then, growing up] “it didn't feel like any of that belonged to me, you know”.
“I think it's to do with like a sense of ownership or not. When I was growing up, my mother was from a housing estate called Irish Street, which was quite loyalist. And so, on the 12th of July, the marching bands would come past. And I always remember, I was in my Nana's house, and I was really scared of the Lambeg drum. You feel it in your heart like it goes right through your body. And the drums, whenever the bands came, I used to run and hide and I'd hide in my Nana's house, like under the bed…. [I] hated it, couldn't wait till it was over. And then that seemed to be…. like the extent of culture as I knew it”.
“And I thought is this it, is this it? And then the bonfires, like, it was just an excuse to get, to have a few drinks and chat up some policemen, you know…. so, it was like, that was the height of it [culturally]…. Whereas I'd seen all this other culture [with my Catholic friends], like, you know, music and celebration, and, you know, all these other festivals that seemed more fun and more celebratory.... and I was like, ‘I kind of like that’. But like, it doesn't belong to me, you know, it's not mine”.
“So…this kind of British–Irish, you're not British, you're not Irish, you just fall between the two stools, and I sometimes feel a little bit culturally bereft because of it”.
“Like in Derry, maybe as well, any type of culture you had, you sort of kept it quite hidden…. you didn't want people to know that you were from that [Protestant] background because…. I suppose in some ways you are a minority; you know…. Derry being…. 80% Catholic —I hate using the terms Catholic and Protestant even now, because they are so irrelevant to me and don't mean anything— but there was that sense of like, keeping it hidden. Trying to be just a bit beige, so you sort of fit in anywhere and you don't upset anybody…. that you're not red, white, and blue, or green, white, and orange. So, yeah, it's a funny one because I think there's something psychological, about that lack of roots then, you know when you don't know where to root yourself. And that's I suppose why [now] I have that other stuff around reconnecting with our place and the stories. It's important”.
[But then, in my childhood, growing up] “my mother, I suppose my mother had a really big role at that stage because she was at home with us. So, she was always at home”.
“I remember.... coming home from school…. coming in the door, and then always [being] used to your Mammy being there. like it was just so, like when I look back it was so amazing, you'd have never came home to an empty house, you know”.
“So, I always had my mother there, until I was about 11, and she got a job in the factory. And I always remember my Mammy going out to work, and then things changed quite a lot for us because then the two girls in the family —there was three boys and two girls— the two girls had to sort of take on the running the house and the cooking and the cleaning, and the three boys didn't do very much at all, they cleaned the car on a Sunday. So… when I was about 10 or 11, I took on the cooking and my sister took on the cleaning”
[So, that was a big change because when you came] “in the door [after school] ... the first thing [I had to do was] peel potatoes, you know…. and I remember just; school bag down, get peeling the spuds…. [even though] like, you had homework to do, you had things to be doing but you always had to get the dinner on. And even sitting down, like I do remember in the summer holidays, like before then like we were probably spoiled rotten and before that, we didn't do a lot…. but [now] because my mother wasn't there…. I remember just feeling, this isn't a holiday anymore, you know…. I have to do things... you couldn't watch TV…. all of a sudden you had these responsibilities….And I do remember it feeling different. I remember like holidays feeling different then, you know because there were things to be done”.
“I think that's really had a major kind of influence on who I am today, because I'm always feeding people, and my mother's a feeder, she's always feeding people and making tea! But it was also that, like, it started that balancing act between the kind of domestic role, and then wanting something else; like not being content with just being in a house”.
[But my mother was a really big influence in many ways, she] “really pushed the two girls, me and my sister, to get an education. So, she didn't bother so much about the boys. But for myself [and] my sister it was very much like ‘You need to get an education’, ‘You need to be not relying on a man’; was the key message, you know; that you're not going to be dependent on a man and, also, you need to earn, you know, get yourself educated and find a path for yourself. So that was quite a strong message”.
[And in many ways, that was unusual, because] “My mother wasn't pushy at all. My mother's the most beautiful, warm, kind, gentle woman that you would ever meet you know”.
[And I remember then as well, one of the only other times my Mum got angry] “when I first met….my boyfriend [who became my husband]…. I just couldn't believe that I'd met this person who was like, handsome and you know all these things. And I remember crying and my Mum was like, what's wrong? And…. I remember saying he's far too good for me, this is never going to last. He's far too good for me. And my mum would never get angry. She would never raise her voice and she got so angry. And she was like, “Don’t you dare say” …. it was such a surprise to see her so animated…. [because] while she would have come across as a very soft gentle-mannered woman there was a really, real solid backbone in there… My mother could see that that was a ridiculous way to think about [having this boyfriend], you know [and sort of made me see the importance of my self-worth and a man wasn’t better than me].
“So, I was so grateful to have this very warm, loving environment growing up, with my mother being a really important and still, thank God, I still have both my parents and, you know, that was a major support. And…. she was so self-sacrificing in a way that, you know, sacrificed everything that she had for her children…. So, I was very lucky that way. And I think I've taken a lot of things from my mother, like, the need to care for people is a big thing, like wanting to care and the feeding thing as well, like wanting to feed as many people as you can around you”.
[And even now, when I do a meditation and] “you try and find your resource; my resource is my Mummy's kitchen.... the wee tiny kitchen table we all grew up around in a quite a small kitchen, but it's like…. there's just, so much love and warmth that comes from that place that I go back there, you know, when I need to. So, from that respect, I was really lucky”.
“Like [I remember coming home from my] Friday night [job, working in a café at age 13, and] coming into my Mummy's kitchen. She always, it was like salad and baked potato night, you know, and we just got a microwave, and it was really exciting cooking the potatoes in the microwave…. but I remember coming in, and her salads were amazing because it was like there was everything…. there was sweet corn and pineapple and cheese and the smell of the baked potatoes. And I remember coming in, just that coming in from work tired, just throwing stuff down. And I remember just like sitting down at the table and like, I suppose just being cared for, you know, and it was all about you, you know”.
“One of the other significant things that happened, I think, was that I grew up… physically quite quickly. So, when I was about 11, or 12, I looked probably like a younger version of [adult] me, but the same height and a lot more physically developed than other girls at that age. And…. I found that really hard because I was starting to get a lot of attention that I didn't particularly want from boys and the like”.
“My name in school was Twin Peaks because I had big boobs, you know, for my age…. and I was quite shy, so I really didn't like this attention…. So, on the bus, I remember I hated getting on the bus. The bus was awful…. and I remember like, this one day, obviously, the fellas had all obviously had some kind of a bet of who was going to kiss me…. I was about 12 or 13, and I couldn't figure out what was going on…. and eventually some… guy then, you know, made his way over and tried to kiss me. And… I was just so shy, I was just so shy and embarrassed, I just wanted to be like, invisible, you know…. The bus was pretty horrific. Like, sometimes you'd have to sit on some boy’s knee. you know, there were no seats…. and get all sorts of like groped and you know, that was just so normal… [but] when I look back, I think that was so far from normal. But at that time…. you didn't, you sort of thought it was a bit annoying, but was like [normal]…. and I just think women have to put up with that all the time. And I worry that today, maybe it's worse, you know?”.
“And so that attention [at that age] was quite confusing, you know, because you're quite young. And so, there was a sense of being…. like sexually quite young as well, and that your body wasn't necessarily yours. And…. like most teenage girls [I had] all sorts of issues with my body and didn't like my body…. just would have very odd eating habits at times and bulimia And, you know, things like that…. at that period of your life, as you know, it's probably quite common”.
“And I think, you know, that's one of the things that…. I think as a woman, we sometimes feel owned in so many different ways”.
“But as I get older, what I love about getting older, is I've such a peace, I've such a level of peace [with] my body, and I am so grateful for it. And I think a lot of [that comes from the] more recent work I've been doing, which is nature-based [where] I've been locating my body back in its ecosystem, somewhere it belongs. And that's been really powerful. And sea-swimming, like so many women now swim in the sea. And for me, it's like a real connecting moment where you feel part of something so much bigger, you feel small, but not in a bad way…. and I love that. And for me, that's increasingly where my body wants to go. It doesn't want to be inside at all, it wants to be out. And then I'm starting to kind of listen to that and trust in it and be so grateful for [it]”.
[So, over the last few years, I’ve been working with other people doing nature-based work] “it's just all [about] reconnecting, it's reconnecting us to our place and our mountain and our river and our soil, you know, so for me the body, you know woman's bodies are so political, but for me, this was like taking it back and reclaiming it, and it's mine. And it's the earth’s, you know, it belongs to the earth. And I think that was something that I really struggled with growing up, you know, there's not many women that haven't experienced sexual harassment… it's so normal”.
“And then [I’ve also been] starting to understand some of the indigenous wisdom around you know, our connection and…. [the concept of] Human Ecology; that our body extends beyond us, and our breath and our, you know, the bacteria on us. So, like, knowing that we're not actually an individual and that that concept of being an individual is so false…. [so] the cold water is always, it's about coming back to your senses…. and in some ways, it numbs as well, and I know it can be used for that purpose too, to kind of numb out other things, but I think it's also about being alive in your body and just noticing what's happening. So, I definitely am just starting to pay attention and listen. Like that's what I've been doing, and the cold water helps me do that”.
“And then [another important thing was that several years ago] I started to learn a bit more about Irish history. Because, of course, in our school, we weren't taught Irish history at all, we were taught the French Revolution, and all sorts of other things except Irish history, and I started to learn about Irish history… and I suppose that was the process of me starting to dig a bit about things…. in terms of not just the history, but the story of the land and the story of the people in this land, and it just started to unfold, all this stuff”.
[So] “I just started learning Irish a couple of years ago….and there's something really special about that language and the language of our land…. I have a wee class of Protestant learners that I'm in, we can't help but be in the Protestant group. But what's really interesting, is it's a really beautiful project that is trying to engage people from a Protestant background in learning Irish. I'm a participant and I'm learning and there's something really healing about it. And it's maybe not always something that can be articulated, but…. it feels so important to me and the language is something, in terms of identity and in terms of our connection to the land and our way of seeing the world and being in the world…. but just the language I wanted to mention, because for me, and maybe because of whatever background I have, or maybe because of what my ancestors did, I don't know. But… that’s really important to me”.
“I think there's something about, not just the stories of this generation, but the stories of our ancestors, in some way, do continue to influence what we do. I think the story, this kind of, the colonial story is quite a recent one in some ways if you know what I mean. So, I think it's maybe something.... in that we've lost our path and our track, but I feel like going back, you know, before that colonialist piece, actually... I feel like that's where I'm drawn to at this moment in time to get me going forward. And it's not that I have any answers. I just think that there's some kind of solace in knowing that, that the answers are there, you know what I mean, wherever they are, and I think that's where they are. I don't think they are in our rational brains and.... going back into, like the kind of, not just the human story, but I suppose, the story of all.... the kind of sentient beings.... on this island and learning from them... So, maybe the land and the language and, you know, all those things are, I think that's where the Irish, that's [where] the Irish society [really is] ...I get the feeling that that does guide us and will guide us [going forward].
“So, the colonial [history of this land I] suppose… that process of starting to unpack all this kind of history and story and then starting to reconnect with the natural environment. I think it also started to bring up the connection with…. like the patriarchy that you grew up with that you maybe didn't understand at the time, you know, and the gender inequality and the gender lens. And increasingly over the years, as my gender lens starts to kind of widen a bit, I get more and more and more angry. I'm not an angry person. But I find that in a lot of roles that I go into now, it's so obvious, but you know, it's still such a blind spot for so many people and a blind spot for me, as well”.
“So, I'm always trying to kind of bring a little bit of light to that, because I'm trying to find a way to deal with that constructively without just getting angry”.
[Like] I ended up on a board [of directors], that was all men, I was the only woman. And for the first four years…. like all sorts of things…. I did have to call out, things that came up that were really sexist, in the boardroom. Sometimes like, they'd just make fun of you, because…. you're the only [female] voice…. It was frustrating because you notice that you get dismissed, your thoughts or suggestions are dismissed so much more often than the men. But usually, they come back in some form. And like one of the things, the gender pay gap [in the organisation], for example, was something I brought up several times. And eventually, when it was looked at, there was a huge gender pay gap. But [when I brought it up] it was like no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not a problem, you know [it was dismissed]”.
“But being on these public boards…. just sometimes I want to say "I'm not as stupid as I look", you know, because I feel like, I'm a blonde haired woman of a certain age and, there's definitely….like assumptions are made …. [and] sometimes it's so subtle. Like… it's the language used, you know, like "The girls will do that”. “The girls are bringing in the teas”, and “The girls are going to get the sandwiches". I actually cracked up once on a board meeting, and I never; I got angry. And I said like I shouted "Enough" with “The Girls", they are not girls they are fully grown women, da da da da da, you know”.
“But luckily, I've been able to be involved at that level. It's been, it's been a great learning process, and I do believe that I have made a difference in the boards that I've been on. So yes, I'm passionate about that”.
“I am passionate about supporting younger women and trying to help clear some of that path”.
[And I was also] “the managing director [of an organisation] for five years.... [and] it was a really good [experience] I think for, I suppose toughening me up…. making me quite resilient and that you could be resilient and do things that had to be done. And I do believe I was a really good manager and a really compassionate manager and like, had huge respect from the staff, who would go way beyond, like, their call of duty, they would just, you know, really looked, looked up to you, which, it was a bit uncomfortable almost, but... I think I created a very equal, it wasn't a hierarchical organisation at all. And actually, the way that we worked together, we got so much more, we achieved so much more than, you know, [you might in a] standard kind of manager-employee relationship. And so, I love that”.
[But I suppose what I did notice in that role was as] “the managing director of that organisation…. in that position of power, you know, I was undermined so many times, and it wasn't personal, again. [One of the projects] was a bit “All men”, and they used to have meetings, and they would never invite me even though I was kind of responsible for the oversight of the project. And they would talk, they would meet and not tell me, and I would walk in, you know, and they'd all be sitting there around the table. And, like, sometimes I just didn't know what to do. You know, I'd just… ask what it's about, sometimes I'd just go and join in, and sometimes I'd just walk out. So, it was just these types of things would happen all the time. And it wears you down, you know, after a while. And you were being undermined in so many other ways”.
[Especially when it came to] “being able to access power, like, sometimes things happened in that organisation that were politically contentious. And you needed to speak to somebody, like a master of a department or, you know, sometimes you just needed a direct line to some, you know, government official, and I could never get that as a woman. Never. I always had to go through a different chain of men. And usually, men that were actually quite well known —and they were very helpful men, they would help me get this contact— but it was always like a, it was kind of like a, you know, subservient kind of begging relationship in that, you know, "I need help with this issue now, and I really need to speak to this person"…. So that that was just the reality…. that you had to go through those channels, and you [as a woman] were subservient and you owed somebody something somewhere”.
[So] “I used to chat to another woman about this, and she's like, you just, you just have to play the game. And I'm like, it’s so tiring playing the game! You know, it's just exhausting”.
[And] “I knew in my heart that if there was a man that was the managing director, which there have always been men, running [that type of] organisation… that they would be able to access more resources, more money, they'd have more kudos and more power. I think the role that I played in that organisation was very different. I still think it was powerful…. It was powerful because what we did is we created a really good collective team that worked well together. That's why it was working well, but not because we had access to any type of privilege, you know, [as] it would have been with a male Managing Director. So…. you do have to work harder [as a woman in those leadership roles] I think”.
[But then] “One of the, one of the things that [has] really emotionally.... stuck with me for a long time is Bloody Sunday. And I get so upset talking about it. I don't know why [tearful]. But there's something about that event, you know that happened in the city that I grew up [in], that was so, like, terrible you know. It's a long time ago. But I have this, I have this like, it's a funny thing. I had this sort of, like, guilt or something around it”.
[And growing up] “we didn't talk about it in our family, we never talked about it. There's a great silence, and I'd imagine, and I suppose I'm guessing, but I imagine there is a great silence…in the sort of Protestant community about those types of atrocities”.
[And so, now, as an adult] “The need to publicly speak out against those types of things. And not be silent, I suppose, is something I feel really strongly about”
[I think, that is] “something that [has] continued throughout my life, like feeling the need to be an alternative voice. And I've been fighting to get out of the Protestant box my whole life. But increasingly, I find myself back in it, to try and offer another perspective, that is seen coming from this angle” [to support the collective healing and address the silences].
“I suppose that's another thing I'm starting to crave —and probably everybody is because of lockdowns and what have you— but is that collective action, you know, starting to feel like, wanting to be part of something bigger”.
“I feel like I've got all this love that has nowhere to go, and I want it to go somewhere”.
[And so now] “I'm not, not so career driven [as I was], in terms of wanting to work my way up, I'm actually working my way back down again in some ways, at the minute, because feeling that connection; wanting to reconnect with the community and feeling that actually, that's where the change happens as well, you know. Meeting really inspiring people. And, you know, amazing woman, always, in community associations that have all sorts of caring responsibilities, and they volunteer 15, 20 hours a week. And have such a low opinion of themselves, even though… what they're doing is amazing. And I'm just always so inspired, and I've met some really, really inspiring women recently that their stories you wouldn't believe, because their stories are so full of loss and trauma, and they get back up and they dust themselves off and they go out, not just that they survive, they go out to make a difference in the community. And I think that's what drives me now…. and it's always the women, like the community associations are always [powered by the women] you know".
“And so, I'm thinking, I'm maybe getting very biased in my old age, [but I’m] wanting to work more with women and feel that connection, like those spaces of connection, are usually in those spaces that are, you know, when you get a group of women together, you can hear the cackles from, you can hear, you know, the joy that comes into that space, no matter what those women have been through. It's brilliant”.
[And so, what is really important for me now, as a woman of Ireland] “I would say [is] the voice of women. Because I feel like the tide is turning, and maybe like women have been so suppressed and silent and silenced, and as things change, and we kind of go through this, like I suppose, as Joanna Macy calls it, “The Great Turning” or this type of shift, that I think the voice of women is perhaps what's going to guide us, you know. And… I think what's really important is, like, the confidence or you know, that those women are supported collectively, like we see it all the time how…. the women's sector in Derry is the most fragmented sector.... and it's a sector that, you know, really needs to be collaborative, and I think that, maybe it's part of us as women being able to work together because there's a really powerful potential for change [when we do support one another]”.
P.S.
This will be the only article this month (December) as I slow down to ‘Winter’. Wishing you all a restful and cosy holiday season however you choose to spent it and many thanks for your continued support of this work. Every read, share, like, comment and ‘buy me a coffee’ is highly appreciated.
See you when the days start to lengthen again (the other side of Winter Solstice).
Belinda xx