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On the more radical side, a group called Irish Women United grew out of a lesbian/feminist Dublin group. It also involved from the Communist Party of Ireland and the Socialist Party of Ireland. The Official Sinn Fein didn't join.
Trish Women United has a charter of wide-ranging demands from the removal of Iegal and burcaucratic bars to women, through the recognition of parenthood as a social function, to the right of all women to a selfdefined sexuality. IWU has campaigned on the issues of equal pay. contraception and health. It received wide publicity around the occupation of the Federated Union Employers' headquarters. The broad left ignored or attacked what it called the 'bourgeois feminists'. Only the far left supported this action.
Pamphlets have been produced by IWU on education of Irish women and a study on anti-discrimination legisiation, It has launched an Equal Pay Campaign, and the Irish Contraception Action Programme, as well as exposing the misuse of the 'drip' to induce birth in Irish maternity hospitals.
Banshee, the magazine of IWU, has suffered from many of the group's problems. In Ireland, there is an absence of general resources for alternative living and fringe groups. Printing facilities are available only through contacts in the universities, and money is generally difficult to come by. Consequently many groups are forced to concentrate on basic questions like finding meeting rooms and funds. The lack of left bookshops and meeting places mean few outlets for new ideas. Outside Dublin the situation is worse, although small groups of women are trying to raise issues such as contraception. The CAlW Committee has been formed to collect evidence and build support for the International Tribunal on Britain's Crimes against the Irish People.
CAIW believes that a successful tribunal depends upon the full and open participation of all those concerned about brutality in Northern Ireland.
The CAIW Committee will: Collect and co-ordinate evidence on the mistreatment of irish women by the British security forces in Northern Ireland; [2] Organise support and sponsorship for the Tribunal amongst women world-wide; [3] Seek to build an International Women's Delegation to investigate the charges and allegations collected through CAIW The CAIW Committee is open to all women who are concerned with the treatment of Irish women by the British security forces. Please contact us at: The Committee to Investigate Britain's Crimes Against Irish Women, 37 Middle Lane, London N8.