Sir, – Finn McRedmond has begun curating the proposed National Women’s Museum herself and appears to have a rather limited view of its possibilities and a narrow view of history (”Do women really need their own museum?”, Opinion & Analysis, October 5th).
As a member of the Irish Women’s Museum Advocacy Group, I welcome the discussion that has taken place since Minister for Culture Catherine Martin’s announcement last week, a dialogue which will form an integral part of the process.
Finn McRedmond states that the creation of such a space “is to argue that [women’s] place in the canon is too small to elevate them to the same status as men”.
I respectfully disagree.
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In a world where hierarchies of power are and have been gendered, creating a women’s museum would be less about “bigging” up women, and more about evaluating the structural limitations around women’s participation in the past and present.
It would also view women like Sinéad O’Connor, Edna O’Brien and others, not as overshadowed by men, but see them as having emerged from those shadows despite gendered hierarchies of power. And acknowledging what it cost them.
Sometimes a bold, disruptive gesture is needed and spotlighting women has yielded results. Surely it is no coincidence that women writers have achieved enormous success in this realm after the creation of the Women’s Prize for Fiction? Where structural inequality exists, structural solutions are often required.
In a world where six-year-old girls (my daughter) are told that they are weak because they are girls, a women’s museum is very necessary, and should not be relegated to a compensatory view of history. – Yours, etc,
Dr GEORGINA LARAGY,
Member of Irish Women’s Museum
Advocacy Group,
Lecturer in History,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.
A chara, – Creating a separate women’s museum would surely be a retrograde step and degrading to women. Women should be viewed as full human beings and their achievements celebrated appropriately in mainstream museums and not sidelined to what would inevitably be seen as a lesser institution.
As a woman, an artist and an educator, I am horrified at the very idea. – Yours, etc,
KAY O’BRIEN,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.