Sir, – I find I am one of “25 brilliant Irish women in 2025” (Magazine, Saturday, March 7th) this International Women’s Day. While I am honoured, I am writing to explain why I shouldn’t be part of a list like this. #WakingTheFeminists, the one-year campaign for equality for women in Irish theatre, was a collective. That was its strength. At a time where the world is watching individual men striving for power, it is even more important to highlight an example of pluralistic, fluid, collaborative, respectful, joyful and, most of all, impactful feminist organising.
Early on in the maelstrom of media attention as we found our bearings, it became clear that it would be expedient if the campaign had a face; a single person who could serve as spokesperson and point of contact. This was partly in the understanding that the media, in particular, would find it easier to latch on to. It has clearly been so successful a strategy, it is replicated here, nearly 10 years later.
I am not downplaying the work I did that year, and in the years since. But the point is that it was never an I, it was always a we. I am enormously proud of what we achieved, and how we managed to do it by forming a self-reflexive organising group structure that was open, shifting, responsive, responsible, selfless, and exceptionally hard-working. The fact that we are theatre people is no coincidence. We are experts at designing ways of working collectively.
Later this year, a book written by another of the #WakingTheFeminists organisers, Sarah Durcan, will be published by UCD Press, with my support and input. It will give an insight into the practicalities of how the group achieved what it did, drawing on interviews and archival material of the campaign, and will also share the voices of all the people who spoke at our public meetings. It’s not a simple task, to lay out a cohesive narrative that tries to include multiple viewpoints. But the important thing is the striving for plurality, and the sharing of the stage, always. The greatest power lies in the collective.- Yours, etc,
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LIAN BELL,
Arbour Hill,
Dublin 7.
