Across Divides – 12: Women in Covid

In times of crisis, women have often carried significant burdens that are not well recognised. In this episode, we look at the role of women in community and peacebuilding, and the development of policy guided by lived experience. We discuss systemic, historical and intersectional discrimination against women. Lived experiences of women during the pandemic were researched as part of the feminist recovery plan which proposes new opportunities to address a whole society change. This episode concludes with a reading from poet Annemarie Ni Churreain.

Rachel Powell, women’s sector lobbyist with the Women’s Resource and Development Agency and chair of the Women’s Policy Group for Northern Ireland, who recently published the feminist recovery plan for Covid-19. She is on the board of directors of the Washington Ireland Program and recently advised the NI government on an expert panel for a gender equality strategy.

Annemarie Ni Churreain, a poet from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Shine Strong Award for best first collection in Ireland and for the 2018 Julie Suk Award in the USA. Many of her poems inhabit parallel worlds, suggesting dual ways of experiencing people, places and events, often evoking the mystery of ‘in between’ places. Annemarie Ní Churreáin

Coumilah Manjoo is originally from Mauritius and lived in England, Ireland, France before working in Northern Ireland for the past 12 years. She studied social sciences and a LLM in Human Rights, Her work has fostered Intercultural dialogue in the voluntary sector with grassroots organisations. She is also a daughter, sister, and mother of three. The power within | Just Fair

Links

Feminist Recovery Plan