Hanna's House

Written by Margaret Ward, Chairperson of Hanna's House 

The second Hanna’s House seminar took place in Galway on 12 June.  The theme was ‘Women’s right to security in the home, locally and globally’ and a wonderfully diverse group of over one hundred women - Traveller women,  women from a number of African and European countries,  feminists from around Ireland and elsewhere -  gathered together to learn about the global experiences of women subjected to many different forms of violence.

Susan McKay described her visit to Liberia, an African country subjected to decades of bitter war, and where rape was used as a weapon of war, but which now has a feminist President.  Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected in 2006 as the first African female head of state.  Her influence is very visible on the streets, where signs proclaim ‘Rape is a crime’ and a Ministry of Gender has passed  laws to deal with gang rape.  Susan said the intensity of the violence and its legacy was ‘very scary’ and the scale of the task of reconstruction immense, but the fact that it was being tackled by a feminist determined to ensure that women would be empowered and  men sensitised to the consequences of their violence made Liberia a place of hope for a different future.  Under the Irish National Plan for UNSCR 1325 Ireland has linked up with Liberia for ‘cross-learning’. Susan hoped that this could be strengthened to a ‘twinning’ arrangement so that financial aid could also be directed towards Liberia.

Fiona Neary, of Rape Crisis Network Ireland, analysed the different ways in which women experienced sexual violence. As the most common form of sexual abuse is by a family member, the family home, ironically, is often not a safe place for women and girls. As boys grow up, the risk of sexual violence decreases, but not for women.  While women were constantly told that it was their responsibility to keep themselves safe, for feminists the responsibility for violence lay with the perpetrator and with the state, which had a duty to ensure women’s safety. Fiona praised the recent PSNI campaign which unambiguously stated ‘ Sex without consent is rape. Take no for an answer’. The Irish Labour Party had urged local authorities to do audits of their public environments as a way of increasing the safety of women, and this was a initiative that could be taken up across Ireland.

Nusha Yonkova, the anti-trafficking co-ordinator at the Immigrant Council Ireland gave a very detailed account of the experiences of women trafficked into the Irish Republic – it was a business worth £180 million a year, with women from 51 different nationalities trafficked into  the country.  She gave us the appalling figure that 1 in 50 men in Ireland buys sex, often at lunchtime. It was their actions that had led to this, with the law totally inadequate to deal with the situation.  In the afternoon, speakers made the political issues very personal . 

Wendy Heuston talked of her work with the Galway Rape Crisis Centre, Kathleen Sweeney, an activist with the Galway Traveller Movement, spoke of her determined efforts to receive an education and of her work with the Primary Health Care Programme and Salome Mbugua, Director of Akidwa, provided us with a vivid account of the work of African women in Ireland. 

Ailbhe Smyth, co-founder of the Feminist Open Forum, was angry and impassioned as she reflected not only on the speeches we had heard, but also on the many contributions made by participants throughout the day.  There was a strong sense that women are re-gaining their fighting spirit, recognising their commonalities and are coming together, determined to work for change.

Finally, Noirin ni Rian sang us out, and we left, promising each other that we would meet again at the next Hanna’s House seminar in Cork in November.