Introduction

This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the first part of this book. The part describes how feminist activity has been of central importance to the resetting of political agendas in Ireland: how feminism ‘has launched the most enduring, widespread and resonant challenge to the ideology and politics of our nation-state’. Linking the personal with the political, the group explored differences and experiences, creating individual change and empowerment, as well as developing a number of successful local campaigns and actions. Jennifer Marchbank’s very different example of anti-feminist activity within local government shows how feminism, clearly seen as a force for change, is perceived as a direct threat to most of the local authority employees concerned to maintain the (male) status quo. She describes the strategies used by the latter to ensure that feminist politics were discredited and eradicated from the local authority’s childcare agenda.