26/08/2026
🌸 Woman of the Week
In December 1918, a woman won a seat in the British House of Commons for the very first time, and she did it from a prison cell.
Her name was Constance Markievicz. Born into privilege in 1868 and raised at Lissadell in Co. Sligo, she turned her back on a life of comfort to fight for Irish freedom and for women. She took part in the 1916 Easter Rising (her death sentence was commuted "because of her gender"), stood with the workers during the 1913 Lockout, and — while imprisoned in Holloway for her activism — was elected the first woman MP, winning 66% of the vote in Dublin's St Patrick's.
True to her principles, she refused to take her seat at Westminster. Instead, she helped build the first Dáil and became Minister for Labour - one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet post. She gave away most of her fortune and spent her final years caring for Dublin's poor.
"I am pledged as a rebel," she said, "an unconvertible rebel."
Our Women, Gender & Social Justice programme explores exactly these stories - the Irish women who changed the world and were too often left out of the history books.
Who's a woman you wish more people knew about? Tell us below 👇
Healing. Growth. Development.
