Celebrating #IWD2022
This year, for International Women’s Day, we choose to #BreaktheBias and barriers that women face by remembering inspirational women who forged their own paths. Celebrate with us at our museum, or stay home and journey through the lives of these extraordinary women; learn more about our in-person and virtual workshops and enjoy the exciting online educational resources available that celebrate Irish women around the globe.
Educational Workshops
Educators, introduce your students to the richness and diversity of the stories featured in our museum no matter where you are. We have created a range of virtual and in-person educational experiences celebrating the lives and legacies of extraordinary Irish women to keep your students engaged.
Rebels and Revolutionaries: Museum Tours
For International Women’s Day, discover the impact Irish women have had on the world with these specially curated tours of EPIC.
In these tours, you will learn how Irish women overcame prejudice, stigma, laws, famine and more to go on to make a positive impact in the world. Hear the tales of trailblazers like Nellie Bly, pioneering investigative journalist; workers’ rights activist ‘Mother’ Mary Jones; Olympic gold medallist Sarah ‘Fanny’ Durack; WWII frontline hero Emma Duffin; ground-breaking scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and more.
Each tour will last approximately an hour and will be led by one of our female tour guides, who will share the stories of the women they find most inspiring from our catalogue of over 300 EPIC figures.
EPIC Explorers: Female Explorers
Online
In our ‘Female Explorers’ workshop, your class will explore the Primary history curriculum strands, the changing roles of women in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the history of exploration. Learn all about the feats of pioneering Irish female adventuresses and ignite the imaginations of your class, featuring the tale of suffragist and revolutionary investigative journalist Nellie Bly, who in 1889, travelled the world in just 72 days.
Suitable for 2nd-6th class
EPIC Explorers and EPIC Innovators ‘Emigrants Suitcase Workshop’
Online
Highlighting SESE curriculum-specific topics, step into the shoes of Famine emigrant Isabella McDougall or with Pirate Queen Anne Bonny, using a collection of objects and supporting materials. Learn all about the lives of these female Irish Emigrants , and take part in a range of activities such as debating, creative writing, drama and art.
Suitable for Primary and Secondary Students
Tiny Tots
Online
Meet some of the museum’s famous female characters in a fun, interactive storytelling session for Junior -1st class students. Join pirate Queen Anne Bonney as she sails the seven seas, or meet journalist Nellie Bly as she travels around the world in just 72 days. Activities include singing, drawing, mathematics and sensory exploration.
Suitable for Junior Infants to 1st class
EPIC Explorers and EPIC Innovators ‘Women’s History Poster or Illustration Workshop’
Online
Our ‘Women’s History’ Poster Making or Illustration workshops look at how emigration allowed Irish women access to opportunities that weren’t available on Irish shores, and we will explore their fascinating stories through poster making and illustration. Choose which type of workshop would be suitable to your class and learn about fascinating Irish women who excelled in the areas of exploration, science and sports.
Suitable for Primary and Secondary Students
Inspiring Stories
Cynthia Longfield
The international dragonfly expert and intrepid explorer also known as ‘Madame Dragonfly’.
Annie Besant
Trade unionist, socialist, Indian nationalist leader and one of the first women to endorse birth control.
Fanny Durack
Irish-Australian record-breaking swimmer who won the first women’s Olympic swimming medal.
Dr. Isabel Mitchell
The Ulster missionary doctor who devoted her career to saving the lives of countless Machurian women.
Eileen Gray
Irish architect and designer from Co. Wexford who would later become a pioneer of modern design.
Eva Gore Booth
The sister of Constance Markievicz who became an icon of suffrage, nationalism and LGBTQ+ defiance.
Watch and Learn
We are collecting videos about extraordinary Irish women on our YouTube Playlist. Click here to visit.
EXTRAORDINARY IRISH WOMEN
As part of our weekly supplement with the Irish Times Abroad, we have explored the lives of many extraordinary Irish emigrants throughout history. From the pioneering Irishwomen who made exciting space discoveries to the world’s first female stockbroker, learn about the women who overcame barriers and blazed a trail for generations to come.
Maureen O’Hara: ‘An Irishwoman has guts and stands up for what she believes in’
The story of the late actor who grew up in Ranelagh, Co Dublin and would become an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The Waterford woman who put Ireland on the international fashion map
Sybil Connolly dressed some of the world’s most glamorous women from Jackie Kennedy to Elizabeth Taylor.
The Irishwoman who was the world’s first female stockbroker
Dubliner Oonah Keogh overcame number of barriers that her male contemporaries never had to deal with.
The story of Irish astronomer Rose O’Halloran
The Tipperary woman, who emigrated to the US, is credited as being the first to see a giant sunspot emerge on the sun’s limb.
Kay McNulty, the Irish ‘mother of computer programming’
While raising seven children, she continued, uncredited, to programme computers her husband developed.
The life of the Irishwoman who was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame
Black rights pioneer, Margaret Murray Washington, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant sharecropper.
HERSTORY – Ireland’s EPIC Women Podcast
This weekly podcast was launched alongside HERSTORY Ireland’s Epic Women, the 6 part TV series on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player in Spring 2020, in collaboration with Underground Films, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Herstory Ireland and RTÉ. Mixed and produced by Cassie at Tall Tales, and presented by Dr Angela Byrne; Herstory Score composed by Scott Maher and Oisín Murray. Find the full podcast series here.