Street harassment is a feminist issue 

The stereotypical whistling builder is the standard starting point for any discussion about gender based street harasment, which usually ends in someone telling a feminist to ‘relax, love’. But, campaigners say, street harassment is a real issue with real life consequences for women’s lives. The international campaign group Stop Street Harassment defines gender-based street harassment as [...]

New rules take all the fun out of work

In the wake of #MeToo, Netflix has released a new set of rules governing how its workers interact during filming. For the most part, they seem fairly obvious to anyone who isn’t a creep. The problem is that if you are a creep, you probably won’t even realise they are aimed at you. They include rules [...]

Celebrating women #IWD2016

My enthusiasm for women and feminism is lifted every year by the sense of solidarity on two dates - Women's Christmas, and International Women's Day. This year I spent Women's Christmas speaking with Cork Simon's Colette O'Brien and Karen Songhurst at the Cork Simon Women's Christmas Lunch. And in time-honoured tradition my mother and sister-in-law [...]

The Dail has a history of sordid sexism – and without more women, it's not going to change

I wrote this piece for the Herald on Thursday as "lapgate" began spreading on social media. The reason I'm posting it here as well is this article by Stephen Collins in today's Irish Times. Collins is right on Dail reform but he is utterly out of step on this issue; an incident of sexual harassment in [...]