Workers Solidarity Movement

The following is a list of talks given to WSM branches and public meetings on women's issues and feminism up to 2008.

Why are Women Not Yet Liberated? - Aileen O'Carroll
"There are a whole rake of questions thrown up by the issue of womens' liberation, among the mainstream press the big issue is has womens' liberation been achieved, are we in a 'post feminist world'? Beyond these basics there are other questions, why are women oppressed? What are the mechanisms that cause our oppression, what are factors that continue it, how can womens' liberation be achieved. Do all men gain from womens' oppression?"

The Left and the Fight for Women's Liberation - Aileen O'Carroll
"The struggle for women's liberation has generally been bound up with other, wider social and economic changes. The first written evidence of equality with men being put seriously on the agenda was during the reformation starting in the sixteenth century. This questioning of established religion also bought the questioning of other long held beliefs."
 A history of the relationship between progressive movements and the women's movement

Feminism and Anarchism I Patricia McCarthy
"Basically we view feminism as a progressive movement but one which is capable of taking up confused and sometimes reactionary demands because it fails to locate the cause of womens oppression in the class nature of capitalist society."

Feminism and Anarchism II K O'Kelly
"The conservative view of women argues that the sexual division of labour is 'natural' and that woman's role as wife, mother and home-maker is biologically given. They believe, to quote Freud, that "Anatomy is destiny". I am going to look at the different traditions of political thought that have developed to critique this vision of women's role in society. There are broadly speaking, four theories; Liberal Feminism, Traditional Marxism, Radical Feminism and Socialist Feminism."

Abortion in Ireland: A Historical Perspective - Patricia McCarthy
"As anarchists we are committed to true equality between the sexes and recognise that this is impossible if women cannot control their fertility and decide themselves to choose or refuse motherhood."
 A look at the history of abortion legislation in Ireland.

The International Backlash Against Abortion - Dermot Sreenan
In Ireland where our own constitution enshrines such edicts as "Mothers shall not be obliged _ _ _ _ _ to engage in labour to the neglect of therir duties in the home", the battle for abortion rights can seem like a mamouth up hill struggle. However what makes our fight even more difficult is the current onslaught which womens rights, in particular abortion rights are experiencing internationally. Even in those countries where limited abortion rights have been won they are now under constant attack.
 Talk by Dermot Sreenan to a public meeting in Wexford, 1992.