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Leading from the Front: Transforming Policy in Crisis for School-Based Sex Education in Ireland

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Women and Global Health Leadership

Abstract

The chapter by Ann Nolan gives us a whistle-stop historical overview of the career of Irish politician Mary O’Rourke. O’Rourke rose through the political ranks of the Fianna Fáil party to become Minister of Education. The chapter charts her journey to power and her success in overhauling Ireland’s sex education provisions, which were influenced by sociopolitical transformation in Ireland following membership in the EU, the global AIDS crisis, and the enduring cultural and political influence of the Catholic Church.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    National centrist party descended from the republican (anti-treaty) side of Ireland’s Civil War (28 June 1922–24 May 1923) that followed the War of Independence from Britain.

  2. 2.

    Athlone is a small town in central Ireland with a population of 21,351 (2016).

  3. 3.

    One’s sphere of operations or area of interest (Oxford English Dictionary).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trinity Centre for Global Health, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

    Ann Nolan

Authors
  1. Ann Nolan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ann Nolan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Rosemary Morgan

  2. Pamoja Communications Ltd., Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGs), Brighton, East Sussex, UK

    Kate Hawkins

  3. Women in Global Health, Washington, DC, USA

    Roopa Dhatt

  4. Department of Health Policy and Management, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Mehr Manzoor

  5. Women in Global Health, Washington, DC, USA

    Sulzhan Bali

  6. Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Cheryl Overs

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Nolan, A. (2022). Leading from the Front: Transforming Policy in Crisis for School-Based Sex Education in Ireland. In: Morgan, R., Hawkins, K., Dhatt, R., Manzoor, M., Bali, S., Overs, C. (eds) Women and Global Health Leadership. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84498-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84498-1_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-84497-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-84498-1

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