Inspire Inclusion on International Women’s Day 2024

International women’s day is celebrated annually on March 8th as a cornerstone in the women’s right movement. Promoting the achievements of women worldwide, originally as a strategy to promote equal rights, we are now able to celebrate women who have made remarkable change in all facets of life.

From voting rights and social change to Goddess and culture, women in Duhallow are no exception.

Sarah Curran

Sarah Curran is one of the great romantic figures of Irish history.

This was as a result of Moore’s song She is far from the Land. The daughter of John Philpott Curran, she was born in Newmarket, Co. Cork. The family moved to Dublin, where Sarah met and fell in love with Robert Emmet. After Emmet’s rebellion failed, Sarah’s involvement with him became known. Angry that his daughter had been compromised, Curran refused to act as his lawyer. After Emmet was executed, Sarah found refuge in the house of Cooper Penrose, an old friend of her fathers, near Tivoli in Cork. She married an English army officer called Henry Sturgeon in 1805.

She is buried with her grandmother’s people, the Philpotts, in the Church of Ireland graveyard in Newmarket.

Danú

Danú, sometimes referred to as Anú, is the ancient Celtic goddess of fertility, prosperity and comfort. The hills in the South West of Duhallow are named for her - Dhá Chíoch Anann or The Paps of Danú, and this Earth Mother was seen as an Agricultural figure.

Alice Taylor

Alice Taylor was born in Newmarket, and these memories are the foundation of her bestselling book To School Through the Fields. Her work through the years has captured the changing face of Ireland and a love story with the land that has gained her a fantastic following. She has enjoyed many appearances on the Late Late Show, as well as being the subject of profiles in numerous publications. Her most recent book, Come Sit Awhile was released in 2023.

Hanna Sheehy Skeffington

Hanna Sheehy - Skeffington

was born on 23rd May 1877 in Millhouse, Kanturk, in Duhallow Co Cork into a highly political family. She believed in women’s rights from an early age and was incredibly outspoken, regardless of obstacles. She suffered through her life - including a few stints in prison for her rebellious spirit - but she never lost her spark. She was one of the most remarkable of all the activists; A speaker of extraordinary acumen and discernment, she was well versed in international as well as Irish national affairs and was influential in literary, political, pacifist and feminist movements.

Julia Clifford

Julia Clifford, born Julia Murphy, hailed from Lisheen, Gneeveguilla. From a family of musicians, she and her brother were both students of renowned fiddle master, Padraig O’Keeffe. She played all over London in Irish Dancehalls, and in the 1950’s, returned to Ireland for a time. Her band with her husband John, The Star of Munster, played regular dates around Limerick, Kerry, Clare, and Galway, and though forced by economic circumstance to return to London, she never lost touch with her Lisheen roots.

Edel Quinn

Edel Quinn was born in Castlemagner on 14th September 1907. As a girl her ambition was to enter a contemplative convent but she was prevented from doing so by ill health. Despite this, at the age of twenty she joined the Legion of Mary in Dublin and gave herself entirely to the Legion apostolate. In 1936, she was appointed Legion of Mary envoy to establish the organisation in East and Central Africa.

Working alone and battling against great obstacles she established the legion on an enduring basis even as far as Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. As a result hundreds of Legion branches and multiple councils were established.

For information on more Duhallow women, visit IRD Duhallow for a booklet - Mná Dhuthalla - which gives a better look into the lives of twelve women throughout the region who contributed to the cultural, social, and rebellious landscape both in Duhallow and beyond.