Vote, woman, vote!
Ireland, in case you haven’t heard, is just three weeks away from a general election and never, in my lifetime, in worse need of good government. Whether the parties presenting themselves to the people have the talent to deliver is certainly debatable. But, however cynical we may be when the politicians come calling at the door, we have nonetheless a moral obligation to exercise our democratic right and have our say in the polling booth.
I was heartened this week by an interview with a young Irish teacher who has been unable to find a job despite submitting applications to schools all over the country. She has not yet decided how she intends to vote but she is definitely voting because, in her words, “we had to fight hard for the right to vote”. And she’s right. Women were not granted voting rights in Ireland until 1918, and then given only limited rights. Today, although we now have equal rights with our fellow man, we still only have about 5% female representation in our Dail. So, my advice to the undecided women of Ireland is, if in doubt, vote for a woman. But, above all, vote, woman, vote!
Your granny sounds like she was a great lady. She must have seen some interesting things being a student in the city centre in 1916.
I can remember as an 18 year old scornfully saying I wasn’t going to vote because it was a waste of time and pointless. My granny LIT on me and told me that people had died so that I could have the right to vote and so I would be voting! And I always have, ever since. My granny went to the Church of Ireland teacher training school in Kildare St in Dublin, finishing in 1916. She was a real inspiration to me and supported me the whole way through right to my post-grad year, which was the year she died.