When: Saturday, 29th of September, 2pm
Where: Start at the Spire, O'Connell Street, Dublin
How to find us: Look out for the IFN banner
Facebook Event: RSVP www.facebook.com/events/176807265789074/

March with the IFN in the March for Choice to mark International Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. We will be marching from the Spire to Merrion Square.  Join us for a day of celebrating being pro-choice.

Confirmed speakers include:
    Ivana Bacik
    Collette Browne
    Clare Daly
    Mara Clarke

Further details on the march from here: www.facebook.com/notalwaysabetteroption

Want to march with us? Please email irishfeministnetwork@gmail.com

What: Women into Public Life conference "Women’s Leadership in Reshaping Society - no longer a luxury - an imperative!"

When: Thursday 27 September 2012 

Where: Millennium Forum, Derry/Londonderry


Women into Public Life (WIPL) is organising this final conference to celebrate the work and achievements of the Project. Funded by the EU’s INTERREG IVA Programme, which is managed by the Special European Programmes Body (SEUPB), WIPL’s main focus has been addressing the under representation of women in public life. Actions have included leadership and mentoring programmes, seminars, learning between partners and research on the gender balance of decision-making structures. 

Throughout the WIPL project participants have engaged with and posed a range of questions with regard to women and leadership - What do women bring to leadership that is different? How do we empower and ‘disempower’ each other? If we had more women in leadership would we have a financial crisis? How can we ensure women are at the helm of the ship as we create a more just and fair society?  

This conference will bring together speakers to inspire and challenge us to address some of these questions. It will also celebrate the achievements of WIPL (due to finish in 2012), capture the learning from the project across three jurisdictions and build on the work undertaken. The conference will:

Hear from women who have participated in WIPL’s training programmes 
Launch research findings on the gender balance of public bodies  
Learn from international experience on the implementation of gender quotas 
Have workshops on feminism, public speaking, women on boards and politics
Motivate  women to take their power and move into leadership roles

Target  audience – this conference is aimed at individuals and organisations with an interest in women’s  equality and leadership, particularly all those women who have participated in  WIPL’s training programmes and events over the three years; representatives from voluntary and statutory agencies, academics, policy makers and politicians. 

Click here to read the conference programme.

When: Tuesday, 2nd of October, 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Where: Bewleys Cafe on Grafton Street
How to find us: We'll have the book displayed upright on the table.
The Book: Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
Facebook Event: RSVP http://www.facebook.com/events/152011694938590/

About: It's fiction month, and we thought it would be good to read something by Maeve Binchy, who sadly passed away at the end of July. She was one of Ireland's most successful female writers. You can read more about her here: http://www.thejournal.ie/beloved-irish-writer-maeve-binchy-has-died-aged-72-538914-Jul2012/

"It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Benny--the only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents...Eve--the orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Benny--they knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains...except their own.

It widened at Dublin, at the university where Benny and Eve met beautiful Nan Mahlon and Jack Foley, a doctor's handsome son. But heartbreak and betrayal would bring the worlds of Knockglen and Dublin into explosive collision. Long-hidden lies would emerge to test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile gold bands of a... Circle Of Friends."

There are a range of reviews of Circle of Friends here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41977.Circle_of_Friends

There's also a movie from 1995. Here's the trailer: 

You are invited to the fifth IFN Discussion Group!

Date: Tuesday, 18th of September
Topic: Migrant Women's Rights
Guest: TBC
Location:  the Exchange, (Exhange Street Upper, Temple Bar) an arts collective whose website can be found here: http://exchangedublin.ie/
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm 
RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/312643945500036/

To facilitate discussion, we'll have these ground rules:

-Everyone has the right to contribute to the discussion
-Refrain from personal attacks, criticise the idea and not the person
-Everyone is welcome to attend regardless of age, gender, race, class, sexual orientation, transgender status, religious belief, disability, membership of the travelling community, marital status or family status.

Hope to see you there!