At Longford Women’s Link, we believe in the power of women’s collective action to achieve dignity, equality and justice for all women.
At Longford Women’s Link, we support and encourage women to take action together on key issues that impact on their lives. This is called women’s collective action.
‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’.
‘Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.’
‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has.’
A short story:
Once upon a time, a small group of local Longford women came together. They were frustrated about the lack of facilities for women in Co. Longford. But they also discovered that they shared a wonderful dream. This was of a women’s centre for all women in Longford! Could it every happen? They had meetings. They plotted. They got other women involved. They laughed. They cried. They took risks. And…as you can see from our website, they turned the dream into a reality! This is the power of women’s collective action.
But did they sit back and live happily ever after…?
The problem of inequality has deep roots…
Most of the decisions which affect women in Co. Longford are not made by women.
FACT: Only 2 out of 21 county councillors in Longford are women, this position remains the same after the 2009 local elections
But women’s knowledge, courage and vision has deeper roots…
In Longford Women’s Link, we hear lots of stories from women. The stories women tell of their lives and experiences speak volumes about resilience, strength, courage and knowledge. They show a knowledge of Co. Longford from the bottom-up - how it works, how it doesn’t work and how it needs to change. In those stories carry the seeds of a new kind of Co. Longford where all women can achieve their potential in a safe and equal society.
Encouraging reflection on experience from social analysis perspective:
Because we believe in the link between reflection and action, there is a strong link between our approach to education, and our commitment to women’s collective action.
Supporting women to come together to address specific issues
Providing Information on Local Women’s Groups
HOPE (Honouring One Parent Equality) lone parent group.
16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women (link to 16 days page)
International Women’s Day, March 8th (link to IWD page)
Local and EU Elections 2008 (link to campaigns page local elections)
All around Co. Longford, locally based women’s groups meet in their local communities.
Manifesto Meeting – 3rd JuneChanges experienced at a personal level, due to involvement with the Manifesto Project, examples:Excitement, hopeful, new awareness of gaps between participation of men/women, feel empowered as a group, women working together as part of a team and gainied encouragement to use my voice.Changes experienced in community networking and relationships, due to involvement with the Manifesto Project, examples:Breaking down barriers, building new bridges, better networking between women’s groups, diverse groups/individuals coming together, sense of unity, connection to the community and opportunity to meet new people.Changes experienced in relationships with politicians, due to involvement with the Manifesto Project, examples:They had no relationship with politicians, now they have to listen to us; no longer afraid to ask them questions and/or engage at the door, women feel they have become visible, Co. Council more willing to take groups’ concerns more seriously and women feel more confident and ready to challenge politicians. Planning for session with External FacilitatorManifesto Meeting – 25th June (with Joni Crone)Agenda: What we want the structure to look like, formalize group name, aims and roles.Small group feedback on Who are we?; Who do we represent?; How do we do it?Outcomes: Feeback from small groups on above questions, to have another similar meeting in the evening, meet again in 3 weeks to agree & decide structure and send a letter to congradulate newly elected councilors to remind them we haven’t gone away. The women also put their names down if they would be able to attend Co. Council meetings, facilitate meetings, tale notes and/or if they could be a link in their electoral area. Manifesto Meeting – 21st July (Evening meeting)Agenda: Update group on last meeting (e.g. small group work) and suggestions.We did the same piece of small group work with this group and compared the similarities between the two meetings. We looked at the pyramid of participation (Angela). Outcome: Group agreed with suggested next steps from previous meeting, this meeting and the last should be pulled together at the next, the next meeting should be held in the next 1-2 weeks, the meeting with Frank Sheridan should go ahead with a small group, Tess (LWL). Re-evaluate all the time – both the influence the manifesto group is having on local issues/decisions and how we support each other within the group. Manifesto Meeting – 5th AugustAgenda: To pull the previous two meetings together and feedback; Feedback to group on Co. Council Corporate Plan (Ruth), Feedback from July’s Co. Council meeting, Brain storming – Name.Outcomes: Agreed actons from previous two meetings – that there should be another meeting (in the evening) before we formally agree on what we want the structure to be, meet again in three weeks, send letter to congradulate newly elected councilors. Ruth feedback Corporate plan was very informative, particularly highlighting how difficult it can be to access i Manifesto Meeting – 2nd SeptAgenda: Summary of last meeting, agree ground rules, Feedback on Development Plan (Calli), Feedback on meeting with Frank Sheridan, Discussion – constitution, set agenda for next meeting.Outcome: The group agreed ground rules, Feedback from Calli regarding the Development Plan was excellent and opened up new questions, particularly how does it relate to the Corporate Plan & how much research is actually done by the council e.g. old childcare regulations were quoted.Feedback from meeting with Frank Sheridan – meeting was positive, in order to make a presentation to the council we need to apply to meetings committee. In order to be included in the new Corporate Plan, we need to do some planning of our own. We did some exploratory work around what that presentation should look like. Group agreed that it would be a good idea for each person to write to their local representatives to demand that we can make a presentation to the council – body of letter to be put together and distributed by LWL. Tess raised the concern that by having a new name, it might dilute the voice of the group. Brief discussion around the constitution, sample provided by Paula. Agreed agenda for next meeting – Presentation to Councillors, Summary of Corporate Plan & Feedback on constitution.Agreed plan of action: To write up letter and send around to all group members, to prepare presentation to Councillors.
