Clodagh Finn: A grassroots guide to changing the world

“And yes, men killing men. Just so many deaths. There’s even an area below the Pepperpot Tower called the Killing Hollow.”

That hollow might now be defunct, but the threat of gender-based violence and death continues to hover over many modern lives. We’ll get to that (along with how ordinary women are changing the world), but first let us meet Gwen Slazenger, “a powerful, intelligent and wise team leader”, who took over the running of Powerscourt in the 1960s.

Her husband, Ralph, was an engineer and inventor with a plan to generate hydroelectric power from the nearby waterfall. It turned out to be unsuitable for the project, but he was a renewable-energy advocate well ahead of his time. Just like his wife Gwen, who had a passion for farming, sustainability, and the countryside.

Then, on November 4, 1974 — almost 50 years ago to the day – the house was devastated by a fire during renovation work to prepare it to open to the public. The long road back is a well-documented story, but none of it would have happened without Gwen Slazenger’s belief in the power of collective action.

And that was the point her granddaughter Sarah wanted to hit home when she offered Powerscourt House free of charge for a voluntary event called ‘Celebrating Opportunities for Women’ on Tuesday. That, and this happy statistic — the estate now enjoys gender balance in all areas of its work.

“As my grandmother understood so well, alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much,” she said.

If that is true in a grand estate set on thousands of acres, it also applies in two-up, two-down housing estates, and it applies to the growing numbers of homeless people without access to any kind of estate at all.

They are not only estate-less, but effectively stateless because their vulnerability strips them of all power and renders them invisible, or almost.

But change can happen when we see a need for it; that single fact has propelled any number of transformative movements and it is what underpinned the foundation of all of the women’s organisations represented at this singular event.

As Anne Marie McMorrow, manager of Bray Women’s Refuge, explained, the service started because of the dogged determination of some Greystones women who, in the 1970s, saw a need for it.

They knew that other women were in dire need of support and, with the help of a local social worker, set up one of the first women’s refuges in the country.

In the same way, Claire Harris said Ark Housing in Bray came into being because two women — her mother and aunt, Annette Devane and Jacinta Crawley — saw a need for it. They went to the Department of Housing and got a grant which helped to build a six-bedroom unit.

That was as recently as 2007, just before the boomtime ended. Yet, despite the Celtic Tiger’s cash-flushed years, homeless services in the country were still minimal.

And women were reluctant to use the few that were there, Susan Diffney, women’s services coordinator at the women-specific Jane’s Place, explained.

As is so often the case, a charity rather than the government tried to find out why. In 2019, Merchant’s Quay Ireland commissioned Dr Sarah Morton of UCD to conduct research. It found that higher rates of gender-based violence, sex work and coercive control among women left them feeling too ashamed, stigmatised, and afraid to look for help.

The word ‘shame’ rears its ugly head again and again. The sense of shame felt by women in dire situations is often so deep and indelible that it stops them seeking help.

We really need to talk about shame. You can see a persistent thread of it in every layer of our society, working like an invasive knotweed to keep people — mostly women — bound and effectively gagged

We really need to talk about the prevalence of gender-based violence and homelessness too. It is happening to the woman beside you and the woman behind you. And if it is happening to you, know that you are not alone. In Ireland, one in seven women and one in 17 men will experience domestic violence.

For a broader view, consider this stark statistic ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25: “Globally, across their lifetime, one in three women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner — a number that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.”

The word ‘unchanged’ prompted the organiser of this week’s event, Alison McNamara, into action. “Just for one day, I wanted women from all walks of life to come together and change the narrative,” she said.

Earlier this year, she had a chance encounter with a council homeless officer and was horrified to find that the only option available to a woman and her children fleeing domestic violence was a bed in a city hostel.

She set about trying to find ways to help women reclaim their own independence and power. She approached the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire whose Enterprise Department piloted free financial workshops for women earlier this year.

She hopes Tuesday’s gathering of women from all walks of life will start many conversations. An online book of contacts and supports will follow.

It’s rare — and incredibly moving — to see so many women come together with the sole aim of helping other women. There are too many to mention here but we should at least complete the full speakers’ list, which also included Interfaith Minister Margaret Roche, AIB representative Frances O'Dowd and Peaches Kemp who offered a free lunch (who said there was no such thing?).

Mind you, you couldn’t leave an event such as that without feeling the need to do something.

The global campaign, ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence’, starts on November 25 and runs until December 10, Human Rights Day. As the organisers say: “Ending violence against women is possible, but only if we act together.”

Are you ready to join in the fight?