Mothers working in their homes are among the most vital workers in any economy

Vanessa’s Olorenshaw’s Liberating Motherhood  calls for a new feminism which supports mothers instead of trying to substitute them, writes Victoria White.

I WORE a purple dress the night I launched my book on the hatred of mothers in Irish society, Mother Ireland, six years ago. In her remarks my publisher said we needed more purple in feminism.

I was prepared for a backlash. After all I was attacking the central tenet of official Irish feminism: That the only freedom for mothers was freedom from their children. But I was not prepared for the clamp-down I met in some quarters. A friend and journalistic colleague looked at me and said, “Let’s just pretend you never wrote that book.”