Women rarely tread the boards but they hold this country together

Often the downfall of women in business; the desire to be liked and matching need not to be hated, writes Terry Prone

THIS country is held together by strong women. Always has been. But sometimes, especially with so few women on private sector boards, it’s easy to forget it, because that, at least, is a location and a prestigious achievement point that is highly visible.

Less visible are the women who cope with what they never signed up for. Like the woman who walked behind the coffin of her dead husband last week in what everybody ended up calling the “sea of blue” of his colleagues within An Garda Síochána. Nicola Golden never signed up to see her husband’s cap and gloves neatly placed on the Tricolour covering his coffin. She never signed up for the pomp and ceremony of his funeral. But she behaved with a wholly admirable strength, holding the hands of her children and presenting a silent dignity nobody could have demanded of so young and so new a widow.