The Irish Women’s Liberation Movement: Radicalism, Direct Action, Confrontation

Abstract

The appearance of new radicalism in various political forms in Ireland, in the late 1960s, marked a departure from a long period of abeyance into a second wave of feminism. An individual movement’s ‘success’ is typically measured on the basis of substantive reforms. Promoting institutional change is generally considered the business of organisations concerned with equal rights. However, as Staggenborg states:

movements can also succeed in bringing about changes in ‘collective consciousness’. In the case of the women’s liberation movement, changes occurred in the way in which women thought about their sexuality, their health and their reproductive rights. To achieve this change in women’s consciousness, the movement bypassed established organisational channels to reach women directly through new kinds of educational forums. (Staggenborg, 1991: 43)