Recorded March 7, 2018.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day The Trinity Long Room Hub partnered with the Institute of Irish Studies in Liverpool University to discuss if and how the position of women in society has changed over the century.
Professor Susan Cahill
‘Trust Women, Listen to Women: Waking the Feminists, Repeal the Eighth, and the Politics of Storytelling’
The #MeToo social media phenomenon has created an unprecedented platform for women’s voices calling out systemic sexual harassment in the entertainment industry and beyond. In Ireland, the Waking the Feminists movement (#WTF ) loudly queried the exclusion of women from Irish theatre and the Repeal the 8th campaign used women’s stories to highlight an urgent need for reproductive rights for Irish women. Professor Susan Cahill will explore the role of personal testimony and the politics of storytelling in feminist activism in Ireland, linking current feminist activism with the strategies of the suffragettes one hundred years ago. Are our voices being heard? Are we being trusted? Who is listening?
Professor Darryl Jones
#MeToo in the University
In February 2018, news broke that Cambridge University had received 173 complaints of sexual misconduct since the establishment of its anonymous reporting system nine months previously. Cambridge publicly admitted to having ‘a significant problem’ with sexual misconduct. Other UK universities, such as Manchester, have established similar reporting systems. The #MeTooPhD hashtag has brought to public attention hundreds of episodes of sexism and sexual harassment in universities, including in the behaviour of students towards female lecturers (who report often being judged on their looks, and who regularly receive less favourable student feedback than male colleagues). Universities are not the only institutions to be undergoing this process of self-examination and realization. News also broke in February 2018 that the UK parliament was instituting a ‘crackdown’ on harassment and bullying, after a survey revealed that 20% of Westminster staff had experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct, and 39% had been the victims of bullying. This is a critical, if not an existential moment for universities and other institutions
Professor Deirdre Ahern
Equal in Name: The Limits of Law, Then and Now
Professor Deirdre Ahern will discuss the disconnect between the recognised values of gender equality in the law and the reality of the impact of continuing gendered decision-making in our world. A century after women gained the vote we take for granted that the law provides guarantees of equal treatment and equal pay. Less certain is the honouring of equality guarantees in practice, as evidenced by continuing debate on the merits of gender quotas in boardrooms and headline revelations of pay gaps for female film and media stars. The equality and fairness debate stemming from the #MeToo dialogue therefore allows a timely reality check in relation to the lived experiences of women as divorced from protections offered by the law.
See the full detail of the Behind the headline series here
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/behind-the-headlines.php
Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
