Ep 497 Politics, feminism and the pandemic - with former minister Gemma Hussey

The Women's Podcast · May 3, 2021 · 52m

In 1982, Gemma Hussey became Ireland’s first female minister for education. She was appointed by Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald after winning a seat for Fine Gael in Wicklow. Her appointment caused a bit of a culture shock among several of her male fellow ministers and for five years she was the only woman in cabinet. A lifetime liberal feminist, Hussey was co-founder of the Women’s Political Association and after she retired from politics in 1989, she wrote a book based on her cabinet diaries, At the Cutting Edge. It was hailed as the most thorough and realistic account of life inside cabinet…