Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ The word feminism is a comparatively new word and concept believed first to have been coined by, it is thought, the French Philosopher Charles Fourier in 1837.

Basically, it is about “all genders having equal rights and opportunities”. A belief in and advocacy of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organised activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests”. In Celtic times, Britain mark 1 as I call it, differentiating from the modern variant coming into being after the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland which formed Britain as we know it, in the Celtic Britain women held more senior positions, equal to men, than today. In Celtic Britain, the “Ancient Britons” as they are referred to many tribal chiefs were in fact women as primogeniture did not apply to those societies. For example, Queen Boadicea of the Iceni Tribe led her people to rebel against the Romans having inherited the role from her father. Boadicea’s body is believed to be buried under Kings Cross Station London, London England.

That period could be described as “Pre-history” so we’ll move on to the Medieval days when the treatment of women was really horrific. In England, Scotland and Ireland a punishment known as the Ducking Stool was common practice for husbands and magistrates to hand down to nagging or disobedient wives. It involved forcing the offender to sit tied to a stool on a kind of seesaw contraption and ducked, covering her head, for thirty seconds in the local pond or river. Another punishment for these vicious and nasty women, who had done nothing more in many cases than answer their husband in a slightly disagreeable way, was the “Scolds Bridle” an iron muzzle encased in an iron case and strapped to the nagging wife’s head. Its function was to silence the woman so she would not nag or disobey her husband again. The last recorded case of the Ducking Stool being used was as recent as 1807 and not until the introduction in 1967 of the Criminal Law Act were offences allowing the Ducking Stool actually abolished.

In Ireland there is the tale of the legendary Queen Maeve of Connacht who bravely led her men in battle. During the United Irish rebellion of 1798 such women fighters as Betsy Gray distinguished themselves on the battlefield equally to the men fighters. Betsy Gray has gone down in Irish folklore surrounding the rebellion and ballads are sang in her name. Many women were involved in the 1798 rebellion, Mary Anne McCracken, Mary Redmond to name a few.

During the nineteenth century a series of parliamentary reform acts gave the vote to an increased number, though still a minority, of men but not to women. In 1888 women at the Bryant and May match-works factory in Bow East London scored a great victory when they took strike action against their terms and conditions. This was a victory in the workplace, but nothing in the way of the vote. Not until 1918 did women over the age of 30 and owners of property did some women get the vote. In the same year, 1918, in the General Election the first woman, Constance Markievicz for Sinn Fein, was elected to the Westminster Parliament. In Ireland after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in December 1921, enacted 1922, women immediately got the vote equal to men under the new Free State administration. With the lack of inclusion to give women the vote in the three Parliamentary Reform Acts in the nineteenth century in 1903, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst formed the “Women’s Social and Political Union”, later becoming known as the “Suffragettes.” This organisation concentrated on one issue only, votes for women and resorted to many tactics and methods to achieve this, some violent others not so. 

In 1913 Emily Wilding Davison, a leading suffragette, died after walking onto the race track at Epsom during the Derby horse race, getting hit by King George Vs horse, Anmer, trying to highlight the plight of women and their lack of representation and the vote in Parliament. The Suffragettes were broad class based and included women from the middle-class, the lower middle-class and working-class and was non-ideological. In 1918 in the United Kingdom, which at that time included Ireland, the “Representation of the People Act enfranchised middle-class women with property qualifications, but still left the majority working-class disenfranchised. To show the cross ideological base of the suffragettes some women joined, in the 1920s the fledgling fascist movement in Britain. This should not be mistaken with Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) which evolved in the 1930s. General Ormond Winter, once the head of security at Dublin Castle was a member of the embryonic fascist movement along with some former right-wing suffragettes. Other one-time suffragettes joined the Communist Party, others the Labour Party and some the Conservative Party. These diverse political opinions highlight the non-ideological position of the WSPU apart from women’s suffrage.

In more modern times we have today three major strands of feminism. Orthodox Feminism evolved in the earlier decades of the twentieth century and concentrates mainly, though not exclusively, on women’s pay and conditions at work, chiefly the professions, and campaigning for pay equal to that of men. During the Second World War women occupied many of the jobs usually worked by men who were away fighting. They were paid less than the men they replaced, allowing the employers to profit out of the war, and their conditions were not great. All the same when they, the men, returned these women were discarded by the employers and the men given their old positions back at the full rate of pay. Some women complained to the trade unions whose support was at very best tepid and that of the Labour Government to these women’s cases was similar. Orthodox feminism is very much middle-class based and concentrate on what they see as doable aims. They do not threaten the economic system known as capitalism.

We then have the more politically aware “Marxist Feminists” which, as the name suggests take their starting point on the writings of Karl Marx. This strand of feminism believes women’s liberation will come at an unspecified date with the Marxist revolution and the emancipation of the working-class. This is unrealistic, if women had waited for this revolution they would still be waiting for the vote, as the working-class as a class unfortunately shows little sign of moving in this direction. Marxist Feminism, perhaps tinged with a little Orthodox Feminism could be the ideal mix. As the Irish Marxist revolutionary, James Connolly said, “women are the slaves of the slaves” referring to working-class women. 

Despite Connolly being a dedicated Marxist, basing his socialism on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, he described himself as a feminist and regularly raised his voice in support of women’s suffrage. He believed that women should “reject the notion they should wait to pursue their demands until a future unspecified date”, and thought the “entire working-class movement should back their struggle and demands”. Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington, a leading campaigner for women’s equality described Connolly as “the soundest and most thorough-going feminist of all the Irish Labour men.” The Marxist Feminist idea of women getting their liberation along with the working-class as a whole is ideologically sound but is based on the unlikely assumption that the proletariat will rise anytime soon! All very well, and let’s hope so, but in the meantime a little of the Orthodox Feminist aims, including for the working-class women, mixed with the Marxist strand may be the more logical and certainly successful from a pragmatic point of view.

This brings us to the third strand of feminism and perhaps the most controversial one, Radical Feminism. This particular variant is disliked by other branches of feminism of both genders because of the misandry (hatred of men) it spreads. This strand of feminism shows little or no sympathy for the ever-increasing numbers of “battered husbands” many of whom are too afraid or ashamed to speak out. Radical feminists only concern themselves with battered wives, which although the by far larger number, are no longer the only ones taking a so-called backhander from their partners for disobeying a minor instruction. These “Femi-fascists” as some refer to them as, are, certainly in the harder line elements, not after women’s equality in all walks of life, but women’s superiority. They wish to see women’s domination over men replacing the equally wrong men over women when, in any decent society, there should be no domination based on gender grounds not men over women or women over men, equality means exactly that. According to some of these fanatics all women’s problems, be they biological or otherwise, are down to men! Some would like, if at all possible, a world without men except perhaps a few hundred thousand kept for reproductive purposes only until such time as another method can be found. Some describe these people as “crackpots” who set back the causes of women’s equality not promote them. The middle-class Orthodox Feminists and majority working-class Marxist Feminists have little time for these radicals, certainly their extreme elements. These fanatics, it would appear, consider all social intercourse like a bit of craic in the corner shop between men and women as sexual oppression of the latter!! If these nutters ever have their way heaven help all of us. The normal bit of banter will be a thing of the past.

The three major strands briefly outlined above do not in any way exhaust the feminist movements tentacles as each strand has variants of itself. For example, not all Marxist Feminists, while agreeing in principle with the Marxist doctrine do not necessarily support Marxist revolution. Some in the Orthodox Feminist strand do not concentrate their efforts solely on middle-class, bourgeois, affairs within the higher echelons of society and the professions. Though the orthodox brand don’t generally associate themselves greatly with the plight of working-class women working in lower grade office jobs or factory production lines this is not an exclusive train of thought. Some working-class women adopt the orthodox line as opposed to the Marxist variant and certainly not the radicals.

Ironically one of the first political parties to give any sort of equality to women, albeit the higher strata of women, were the Conservative Party via their “Primrose League.” This was the first political organisation to give women the same status and responsibilities as men. The league was founded in 1883 and the women’s council 1885 by Lady Brunswick, all the early members were titled women. In society generally women have made great strides over the past two centuries and certainly in more recent years as the role of the “housewife” has become, generally speaking, less oppressive and kitchen sink orientated. 

During the British Coalminers Strike of 1984/85, as in the Dublin Lockout of 1913/14, the roles of women and women’s participation was essential to both struggles. Apart from playing a vital role in the disputes, the women also advanced the cause of their own gender greatly. On the sporting front women now play Association Football at both club and national levels and attendances at these games are on the up. They also play Rugby Football again at both club and national levels. In Ireland women have had an impact of the national sporting organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) for many years. They play Camogie, women’s hurling, and Gaelic Football at both club and county level. On the whole the future of women, as far as capitalism can offer any of us, looks brighter than ever and although there is still much to be done, particularly in the workplace, things are perhaps looking better than for many years and decades.             

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Feminism Through The Ages

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ The word feminism is a comparatively new word and concept believed first to have been coined by, it is thought, the French Philosopher Charles Fourier in 1837.

Basically, it is about “all genders having equal rights and opportunities”. A belief in and advocacy of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organised activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests”. In Celtic times, Britain mark 1 as I call it, differentiating from the modern variant coming into being after the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland which formed Britain as we know it, in the Celtic Britain women held more senior positions, equal to men, than today. In Celtic Britain, the “Ancient Britons” as they are referred to many tribal chiefs were in fact women as primogeniture did not apply to those societies. For example, Queen Boadicea of the Iceni Tribe led her people to rebel against the Romans having inherited the role from her father. Boadicea’s body is believed to be buried under Kings Cross Station London, London England.

That period could be described as “Pre-history” so we’ll move on to the Medieval days when the treatment of women was really horrific. In England, Scotland and Ireland a punishment known as the Ducking Stool was common practice for husbands and magistrates to hand down to nagging or disobedient wives. It involved forcing the offender to sit tied to a stool on a kind of seesaw contraption and ducked, covering her head, for thirty seconds in the local pond or river. Another punishment for these vicious and nasty women, who had done nothing more in many cases than answer their husband in a slightly disagreeable way, was the “Scolds Bridle” an iron muzzle encased in an iron case and strapped to the nagging wife’s head. Its function was to silence the woman so she would not nag or disobey her husband again. The last recorded case of the Ducking Stool being used was as recent as 1807 and not until the introduction in 1967 of the Criminal Law Act were offences allowing the Ducking Stool actually abolished.

In Ireland there is the tale of the legendary Queen Maeve of Connacht who bravely led her men in battle. During the United Irish rebellion of 1798 such women fighters as Betsy Gray distinguished themselves on the battlefield equally to the men fighters. Betsy Gray has gone down in Irish folklore surrounding the rebellion and ballads are sang in her name. Many women were involved in the 1798 rebellion, Mary Anne McCracken, Mary Redmond to name a few.

During the nineteenth century a series of parliamentary reform acts gave the vote to an increased number, though still a minority, of men but not to women. In 1888 women at the Bryant and May match-works factory in Bow East London scored a great victory when they took strike action against their terms and conditions. This was a victory in the workplace, but nothing in the way of the vote. Not until 1918 did women over the age of 30 and owners of property did some women get the vote. In the same year, 1918, in the General Election the first woman, Constance Markievicz for Sinn Fein, was elected to the Westminster Parliament. In Ireland after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in December 1921, enacted 1922, women immediately got the vote equal to men under the new Free State administration. With the lack of inclusion to give women the vote in the three Parliamentary Reform Acts in the nineteenth century in 1903, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst formed the “Women’s Social and Political Union”, later becoming known as the “Suffragettes.” This organisation concentrated on one issue only, votes for women and resorted to many tactics and methods to achieve this, some violent others not so. 

In 1913 Emily Wilding Davison, a leading suffragette, died after walking onto the race track at Epsom during the Derby horse race, getting hit by King George Vs horse, Anmer, trying to highlight the plight of women and their lack of representation and the vote in Parliament. The Suffragettes were broad class based and included women from the middle-class, the lower middle-class and working-class and was non-ideological. In 1918 in the United Kingdom, which at that time included Ireland, the “Representation of the People Act enfranchised middle-class women with property qualifications, but still left the majority working-class disenfranchised. To show the cross ideological base of the suffragettes some women joined, in the 1920s the fledgling fascist movement in Britain. This should not be mistaken with Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) which evolved in the 1930s. General Ormond Winter, once the head of security at Dublin Castle was a member of the embryonic fascist movement along with some former right-wing suffragettes. Other one-time suffragettes joined the Communist Party, others the Labour Party and some the Conservative Party. These diverse political opinions highlight the non-ideological position of the WSPU apart from women’s suffrage.

In more modern times we have today three major strands of feminism. Orthodox Feminism evolved in the earlier decades of the twentieth century and concentrates mainly, though not exclusively, on women’s pay and conditions at work, chiefly the professions, and campaigning for pay equal to that of men. During the Second World War women occupied many of the jobs usually worked by men who were away fighting. They were paid less than the men they replaced, allowing the employers to profit out of the war, and their conditions were not great. All the same when they, the men, returned these women were discarded by the employers and the men given their old positions back at the full rate of pay. Some women complained to the trade unions whose support was at very best tepid and that of the Labour Government to these women’s cases was similar. Orthodox feminism is very much middle-class based and concentrate on what they see as doable aims. They do not threaten the economic system known as capitalism.

We then have the more politically aware “Marxist Feminists” which, as the name suggests take their starting point on the writings of Karl Marx. This strand of feminism believes women’s liberation will come at an unspecified date with the Marxist revolution and the emancipation of the working-class. This is unrealistic, if women had waited for this revolution they would still be waiting for the vote, as the working-class as a class unfortunately shows little sign of moving in this direction. Marxist Feminism, perhaps tinged with a little Orthodox Feminism could be the ideal mix. As the Irish Marxist revolutionary, James Connolly said, “women are the slaves of the slaves” referring to working-class women. 

Despite Connolly being a dedicated Marxist, basing his socialism on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, he described himself as a feminist and regularly raised his voice in support of women’s suffrage. He believed that women should “reject the notion they should wait to pursue their demands until a future unspecified date”, and thought the “entire working-class movement should back their struggle and demands”. Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington, a leading campaigner for women’s equality described Connolly as “the soundest and most thorough-going feminist of all the Irish Labour men.” The Marxist Feminist idea of women getting their liberation along with the working-class as a whole is ideologically sound but is based on the unlikely assumption that the proletariat will rise anytime soon! All very well, and let’s hope so, but in the meantime a little of the Orthodox Feminist aims, including for the working-class women, mixed with the Marxist strand may be the more logical and certainly successful from a pragmatic point of view.

This brings us to the third strand of feminism and perhaps the most controversial one, Radical Feminism. This particular variant is disliked by other branches of feminism of both genders because of the misandry (hatred of men) it spreads. This strand of feminism shows little or no sympathy for the ever-increasing numbers of “battered husbands” many of whom are too afraid or ashamed to speak out. Radical feminists only concern themselves with battered wives, which although the by far larger number, are no longer the only ones taking a so-called backhander from their partners for disobeying a minor instruction. These “Femi-fascists” as some refer to them as, are, certainly in the harder line elements, not after women’s equality in all walks of life, but women’s superiority. They wish to see women’s domination over men replacing the equally wrong men over women when, in any decent society, there should be no domination based on gender grounds not men over women or women over men, equality means exactly that. According to some of these fanatics all women’s problems, be they biological or otherwise, are down to men! Some would like, if at all possible, a world without men except perhaps a few hundred thousand kept for reproductive purposes only until such time as another method can be found. Some describe these people as “crackpots” who set back the causes of women’s equality not promote them. The middle-class Orthodox Feminists and majority working-class Marxist Feminists have little time for these radicals, certainly their extreme elements. These fanatics, it would appear, consider all social intercourse like a bit of craic in the corner shop between men and women as sexual oppression of the latter!! If these nutters ever have their way heaven help all of us. The normal bit of banter will be a thing of the past.

The three major strands briefly outlined above do not in any way exhaust the feminist movements tentacles as each strand has variants of itself. For example, not all Marxist Feminists, while agreeing in principle with the Marxist doctrine do not necessarily support Marxist revolution. Some in the Orthodox Feminist strand do not concentrate their efforts solely on middle-class, bourgeois, affairs within the higher echelons of society and the professions. Though the orthodox brand don’t generally associate themselves greatly with the plight of working-class women working in lower grade office jobs or factory production lines this is not an exclusive train of thought. Some working-class women adopt the orthodox line as opposed to the Marxist variant and certainly not the radicals.

Ironically one of the first political parties to give any sort of equality to women, albeit the higher strata of women, were the Conservative Party via their “Primrose League.” This was the first political organisation to give women the same status and responsibilities as men. The league was founded in 1883 and the women’s council 1885 by Lady Brunswick, all the early members were titled women. In society generally women have made great strides over the past two centuries and certainly in more recent years as the role of the “housewife” has become, generally speaking, less oppressive and kitchen sink orientated. 

During the British Coalminers Strike of 1984/85, as in the Dublin Lockout of 1913/14, the roles of women and women’s participation was essential to both struggles. Apart from playing a vital role in the disputes, the women also advanced the cause of their own gender greatly. On the sporting front women now play Association Football at both club and national levels and attendances at these games are on the up. They also play Rugby Football again at both club and national levels. In Ireland women have had an impact of the national sporting organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) for many years. They play Camogie, women’s hurling, and Gaelic Football at both club and county level. On the whole the future of women, as far as capitalism can offer any of us, looks brighter than ever and although there is still much to be done, particularly in the workplace, things are perhaps looking better than for many years and decades.             

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

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