On #NollaigNamBan we'll be raising a glass/cup of tea to all the women we've featured this year, to honour their victories and challenges as well as their long and short lives. What will you do? Here's a thread with some ideas. 1/7 #IrishWomenInHistory
1) If you have children in your life, you could spend some time with them telling stories about your and/or their female ancestors. Keeping their stories alive in the most traditional of Irish ways; through storytelling. 2/7 #NollaigNamBan#IrishWomenInHistory
2) If you're on your own, maybe take some time to reflect on your own female ancestors - do you know much about them? What pieces of stories are missing and why? Is there some research you'd like to do to know more about them? 3/7 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
3) If you're with friends, invite each person to tell a story about a female ancestor and toast that woman's life and how her life lives on in memory. Maybe this could be a new tradition every January 6th? 4/7
4) Take a look back through our timeline (remember we featured many other women in previous years!) and consider just how different, and difficult, the lives of our female ancestors were and why.
We stand on their shoulders with gratitude. 5/7 #NollaigNamBan#IrishWomenInHistory
5) If you're with family perhaps start a family project or new family tradition to remember female ancestors. Maybe an art project, a female-focused family tree or maybe the writing down or recording of the stories of female ancestors. 6/7 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
Finally, we'd LOVE to hear your suggestions for honouring the female ancestors who've shaped your life. Maybe you already have traditions you'd like to share with us or ideas for new ones. We'd love to hear them! 7/7 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
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Louisa Westropp (born 1858), following a marriage characterised by constant domestic violence, sued her husband for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Before Irish independence, cruelty was, in theory, legal grounds for divorce..... 1/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
..... but men were considered to have the right to physically 'chastise' their wives, as women at that time had few rights (including the right to custody of their own children) cruelty was almost never cited in #divorce proceedings. 2/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
It was the first time an #Irish#woman sued her husband for divorce on grounds of cruelty, and it set a legal precedent. Terrible as things were for Louisa, they were much worse for women from less wealthy backgrounds. 3/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan#LegalTwitter
Françoise Henry was born in Paris in 1902 & grew up in #France, where she studied art & archaeology. She came to Ireland in 1926 to research her thesis on Irish medieval carving, & became deeply fascinated with early Christian #Irish stonework and art. 1/5 #IrishWomenInHistory
Her work helped to raise awareness of the richness of this artistic tradition and laid the ground for future researchers in the field. Françoise went on to become the Director of Studies in #archaeology and the #history of #European#painting. 3/5 #IrishWomenInHistory