Last week the Bank of England announced that, following a campaign organised by journalist Caroline Criado-Perez, Jane Austen will grace the UK's new £10 notes in a year or two, replacing previous star Charles Darwin. The campaign was inspired by the news that prison reformer Elizabeth Fry – only the second woman to appear on Britain's banknotes apart from the Queen – was going to be replaced on fivers by Winston Churchill.
Criado-Perez was, understandably, annoyed that women's contribution to public life is apparently not seen as very important, and it turned out that lots of people agreed - 35,000 people signed the online petition.
You wouldn't think that publicly celebrating a woman's achievements would be controversial. Sadly, Caroline's success has almost been overshadowed by the horrific misogynist abuse she subsequently received on Twitter, showing that daring to suggest that women should be commemorated in the same way as men is still a big deal.
And her campaign is also a reminder to us Irish ladies that hardly anything in Ireland is named after women, famous or otherwise.
How many roads can you think of named after women (saints don't count)? Or statues? Or bridges? Last year Dublin County Council asked for suggestions for the name of the new bridge being built between O'Connell and Tara Street bridges. But when the long list was announced a few weeks ago, only two women had made the list of ten names: camogie player Kay Mills (I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of her before) and trade union activist Rosie Hackett. Worthy names, but really, Dublin City Council? You could only accept two female names? And it's not like the original longlist had been female-heavy - there was just one more woman on it, Lady Gregory.
Advertised
Back when it was announced that the council was looking for suggestions for bridge names, one female name kept coming up: Maeve Binchy, who sadly died one year ago today. Maeve lived in the Dublin area for most of her life, and the city was the partial setting for some of her most beloved books, including Echoes and Circle of Friends.
Over her long and illustrious career, Maeve wrote about ordinary women's lives, always from a distinctly feminist perspective.
Women mattered in her books - their dreams and ambitions and their desire to be taken seriously.
In her Irish Times journalism, she wrote about everything from royal weddings to contraception, and in her witty advocacy of feminist causes she always showed a sense of solidarity with her fellow women.
Advertised
She was not only a great and compassionate story teller, she was a champion of Irish women in a time when they really needed it. I'd have much preferred to see her name on the list than Lady Gregory's.
So what Irish women would you like to see with streets or bridges named after them? And why do you think daring to highlight this lack of women in the public eye is still seen as threatening by so many weird, creepy men?
