Louise O'Neill: I don't feel like celebrating International Women's Day

"...in all the arguing about the good men and the women who are asking for it, and the sons who would never do anything like that and the daughters who need to be taught to be careful, it feels like nothing ever changes..."

Photo: Cathal Noonan

For the last month, I’ve been receiving emails about International Women’s Day. Asking me to do an interview, or talk to students, or give a keynote speech for a company’s employees. I’ve said no to everything. I just don’t feel like celebrating this year. This has never been a country for women — how could it be? 

When for decades, innocent women were incarcerated for the ‘sin’ of having sex before marriage, their babies ripped from their arms and sold to the highest bidders? When the people and the institutions responsible were granted indemnity, allowed to walk away? It’s easy to call it 'another Ireland', 'a different time', but the remnants are still there if you look hard enough.