A Woman to Know: Constance Georgine Markievicz
Dress suitably in short skirts and sitting boots, leave your jewels and gold wands in the bank, and buy a revolver. — Constance's advice to lady rebels
(image via National Library of Ireland)
Constance was born into a world of aristocratic galas, ballgowns and champagne — but one century ago, in the Easter Rising of 1916, she traded her tiara for the trenches. As a prominent member of Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican party, Constance led hundreds of women in the fight for Irish independence. She inspired loyalty and devotion with her legendary fierceness — and her stubbornness. "While Ireland is not free, I remain a rebel, unconverted and uncontrovertible," she told her lady friends. "There is no word strong enough for it."
Though the insurrection eventually failed, Constance remained beloved by the Irish people, and they elected her the country's first female politician — even though she was imprisoned in England at the time. Historians today estimate as many as 77 other Irish women were imprisoned alongside Constance, though many of their contributions to contemporary politics have since been forgotten (or erased). Constance herself was never awarded a medal for her work, and politicians today are calling for a memorial to her legacy, to honor the 100th anniversary of the Rising.
Constance was eventually pardoned, along with other Easter Rising rebels, but once released she didn't drop the cause — one Irish women are still fighting today. As Sadhbh Walshe wrote in The New York Times:
[The women] were not just committed nationalists willing to die for Ireland, but also longtime campaigners for social justice who had been fighting inequality on many fronts: land reform, labor battles and women's suffrage. These women wanted a fairer society in which they would have an equal say ... So, it is not surprising that just as Ireland is reckoning with the erasure of its first wave of feminism, a new one is surging, propelled by the [100th anniversary] commemorations.
Sadhb is on the money — just last year, Irish women led a new protest, calling for greater representation in Irish culture and politics. They called it "The Estrogen Rising."
Add to your library list:
Women Who Shaped Ireland (Nicola Depuis)
The Rebel Countess (Ann Marecco)
The Daughters of Maeve: 50 Irish Women Who Changed the World (Gina Sigillito)
Revolutionary Lives: Countess and Casmir Markievicz (Lauren Arrington)
Renegade Irish Republican Women (Ann Matthews)
Read more:
The Sisterhood of the Easter Rising (The New York Times)
Daughters of Wealth, Sisters in Revolt (Smithsonian Magazine)
Why 100 years after the rising, are Irish women still fighting? (The Guardian)
1916 Easter Rising Profiles: Countess Constance Markievicz (BBC)
Constance Markievicz: A leader whose legacy has been fought over for decades (The Irish Times)
Constance Markievicz: Aristocratic leader of men (The Irish Independent)
Hidden gems among new exhibit examining the lives of Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth (The Irish News)
100 Years After the Fighting, Sinn Fein Fights a New Foe: Austerity (The Nation)
Constance Markievicz among the Rising figures to never receive a medal (The Irish Independent)
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