Northern Ireland

extraORDINARY Women project launched at Linen Hall Library in Belfast

extraORDINARY women helping to celebrate the project in the Linen Hall Library are left to right, children’s author Amelia Kai, QUB virologist Dr Lindsay Broadbent and diversity campaigner Orla McKeating
extraORDINARY women helping to celebrate the project in the Linen Hall Library are left to right, children’s author Amelia Kai, QUB virologist Dr Lindsay Broadbent and diversity campaigner Orla McKeating extraORDINARY women helping to celebrate the project in the Linen Hall Library are left to right, children’s author Amelia Kai, QUB virologist Dr Lindsay Broadbent and diversity campaigner Orla McKeating

The "powerful and important contribution" women have made to Northern Ireland society during the past 50 years has been captured in a new project.

The extraORDINARY Women project has been launched at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.

The exhibition, which covers the years from 1965 through the Troubles, to the present day, tells the female perspective of a dark chapter in the north's history.

Areas investigated include the changing and developing roles and attitudes of women through momentous times including the civil rights movement, campaigns for equal pay and sex discrimination legislation of the 1970s, the expansion of women’s organisations and centres in the 1980s, the increase in participation in mainstream politics, with the formation of the NI’s Women’s Coalition in the 1990s, and ongoing campaigns for equality and inclusivity.

The project also charts the emergence of new movers, shakers, story tellers, change makers, influencers and activists, diverse, formidable and fearless women who are determined to make their mark on the world in a project focused on `women supporting and raising each other up'.

The project will see around 50,000 pages and images from the Linen Hall Library’s collections and archives digitised, conserved and made globally accessible.

In addition, thousands of new items including oral histories, testimonies, stories, posters, scripts, articles and artefacts, donated by contemporaneous extraORDINARYwomen are being added to the collection - all of which will be made available on a new content platform extraorinarywomenni.com, which will go live on Monday, November 8.

An exhibition related to the project is due to go on display next week.

Contributors to the project include Monica McWilliams, Ann Patterson, Brid Ruddy, Ruth Taillon, Lynda Walker, Anna Lo, Judith Gillespie, Geraldine Finucane and Arlene Foster.

New activists include diversity champion, Orla McKeating, period poverty campaigner, Katrina McDonnell, Rebecca Bellamy, supporter of people and the planet, Orlaith O’Connor, LBGTQ+ and pro-choice activist and Amelia Kai, children’s book author and founder of inclusivity organisation MyIdentityNI.

Julie Andrews CEO of Linen Hall Library said: "With women all around the world stepping into their power and standing in their strength and stories, there has never been a more relevant time to celebrate local women and give fuller expression to the important role they have played in shaping NI’s modern history.

"To the hundreds who have taken part, we salute you," she said.

"The project could not have happened without your generosity and that of our funders National Lottery Heritage Fund, DFA, Tourism NI, Foyle Foundation and Department for Communities".