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Women in Rural Communities – NWCI Members and Friends Meeting

Published: Friday, April 13, 2018

(Picured above from L to R are: Tara Farrell, Deputy CEO Longford Women's Link; Louise Lennon, Policy and Communications Officer Irish Rural Link; Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, chairperson NWCI; and Louise Lovett, CEO Longford Women's Link).

More than 50 NWCI group and individual members and friends came together on the 10th April in Longford Womens Link to discuss challenges for women living in rural communities and to share ideas on how to achieve equality for women living and working in rural communities.

Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, Chairperson of NWCI explained the context for the meeting and our participation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. At the session in New York, the theme was challenges and opportunities for women and girls in rural communities. You can read the agreed conclusions here, and read about NWCI's participation in the session here.

 At the meeting, Louise Lennon from Irish Rural Link spoke about the dynamics of poverty for women living in rural communities focusing on the costs and barriers associated with accessing employment and education opportunities. Ann Irwin from Community Work Ireland highlighted the need to recognise the diversity of women and the need to invest in social as well as economic development. Tara Farrell of Longford Womens Link showcased a cross border initiative called “Towards a New Common Chapter.” She spoke about the development of a vision for cooperation between grass roots community groups from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland including women’s groups.

Participants then worked in small groups, discussing violence against women, women in decision making and rural poverty. We would like to sincerely thank all of the participants and speakers who came to the event for their great input. 

We are developing a paper outlining women’s equality and human rights issues from a rural perspective which we will be publishing shortly.

For more information please contact Catherine Lane catherinel@nwci.ie

Read our press release for our meeting here.