Category Archives: education

My review of “I Have No Regrets: Diaries, 1955-1963” Brigitte Reimann

    Brigitte Reimann was an East German writer and  an avid chronicler of her own  life through her diaries. In this new book we follow her as she becomes a successful writer, but at a turbulent time for her … Continue reading

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My review of “You Can’t Kill the Spirit!” Houghton Main Pit Camp, South Yorkshire;the untold story of the women who set up camp to stop pit closures

  This is the inspiring  story of a group of working class women who decided to fight to stop further pit closures seven years after the momentous Miner’s Strike of 1984-5. They set up seven women’s pit camps outside the … Continue reading

Posted in book review, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

My interview with Sheila Rowbotham about her groundbreaking 1969 article “Women: the struggle for Freedom”

 On 10 January 1969 in an article  called   “Women; the struggle for Freedom”, published  in the Marxist magazine Black Dwarf, socialist feminist Sheila Rowbotham  poured out her anger and resentment about the inequality and injustice of women’s lives:   “A much … Continue reading

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My review of “Moving Histories Irish Women’s Emigration to Britain from Independance to Republic” Jennifer Redmond

  MORE Irish women than Irishmen have over the years emigrated from Ireland. In this new history of Ireland from the 1920s to the 1950s Jennifer Redmond uses an important array of new sources to tell their story. This includes … Continue reading

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, education, feminism, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, North of Ireland, political women, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

My review of “Across the Water Irish Women’s Lives in Britain” (1988) Mary Lennon Marie McAdam Joanne O’Brien

    This  unique history of the role of Irish women in Britain was published  in  1988: Across the Water Irish Women’s Lives in Britain.  It was produced by three women, none of whom were academics, all of them had … Continue reading

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of”Why Women have better sex under Socialism” Kristen R. Ghodsee

  In 1925 Mary Quaile, Manchester Irish trade unionist and one of the first women to be elected onto the  Trades Union Congress, led a women-only delegation to the Soviet Union to investigate the lives of women and children in … Continue reading

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

IBRG Archive at the WCML. Out of Ireland. Six Irish Film Festivals 1988-93

Out of Ireland was the name given to six Irish Film Festivals that were initiated by the Manchester branch of the Irish in Britain Representation Group  and organised  from 1988 to 1993 with the Irish in Manchester History Group and … Continue reading

Posted in Catholicism, drama, education, feminism, films, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, trade unions, TV drama, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Wages for Housework A History of an International Feminist Movement 1972-77” by Louise Toupin (2018)

In this new and fascinating book about the Wages for Housework campaign we are looking back to a period of history when  radical women were redefining  the nature of women’s work and   challenging the role of women in  society. The … Continue reading

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My review of “Staging Life The Story of the Manchester Playwrights” by John Harding

  Manchester used to  have its own municipal theatre, the Library Theatre based in Central Library and its southern sister at the Forum in Wythenshawe. In those days going to the theatre was more democratic. For many Mancunian school children … Continue reading

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My review of “A Most Unladylike Occupation” Lisa Wright

  Lucy Deane was one of the first female Factory Inspectors in 1893. In this novel, Lisa Wright, a distant relative of Lucy’s, captures the life and history of a pioneering woman. It was the Home Secretary, Herbert Asquith, who … Continue reading

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