With the annual International Herstory Light Festival in celebration of women’s rights and equality taking place across the globe this month, the Impartial Reporter spoke to Aideen McGinley, former Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council, and first woman in that position, about her views on the significant topic of equality.

“I would love to think that we would come to a time when gender doesn’t actually come into it,” said Aideen, when asked what equality means to her.

She continued:

“That everything, including working life, opportunities, education and what women can access, just becomes the norm, so that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman.”

“I think there has been an awful lot of progress made but sadly a lot of things, a lot of old traditions, are entrenched,” she added.

Not only was Aideen the first female Chief Executive in local government in Northern Ireland, she was also the first female Permanent Secretary at central government level in the country.

“Someone once asked me if I go into jobs to be the first, and I went, ‘absolutely not,’” shared Aideen. “It was a case of there hadn’t been a woman at that level in either the local government or central government at that time. I’m glad that now the ceiling is broken and there are more women, but still not enough,” she added.

When asked if she ever faced any adversity as a woman in those positions, Aideen said: “I honestly can’t say that I have.”

She continued: “I’m glad to say that I would’ve had support in all the posts I had, it was always regardless of gender.”

However, that was not to say that Aideen didn’t encounter some misogyny in her time. She said: “With a name like ‘Aideen’ I always remember a number of occasions where I came to particular events and people looked at me as if to say, ‘why are you here’ and then I realised I was the only woman in the room.”

“They thought my name was ‘Aiden’ when I had been invited,” she laughed, admitting that she found it quite amusing.

“I would never be in any way militant, I take people as I find them. It was often a wry smile when you realised that people were expecting a man,” she added.

Although Aideen believes that there has been some progress in women’s rights and equality in Northern Ireland, she noted that the gender pay gap is still an issue. “Even still the equal pay issue in employment is not resolved and I have had a working life of over 40 years and that was an issue that was very strong when I first started work and here we are, 40 years later, and it is still a real key issue,” she commented.

She continued: “Equal work demands equal reward and remuneration. I think it’s improving but it’s not the case. For me its about equality of opportunity, equality for education, for employment, for being treated equally with respect and I think we still have a lot of work to do. We are a lot further on than we were but we have a lot more to do.”

Talking of her role as a grandmother, Aideen added:

“There are certain parts of life that it is easier to be a woman than others. For my granddaughters, I just hope that they get the opportunity to be all that they can be.”

She continued: “Dolly Parton said, ‘find out who you are and do it on purpose’ and that’s what I wish for all my granddaughters.”

“That they have the support and confidence to find out who they are and that they get the opportunities to do it on purpose and make their mark on the world,” she added.

In support of this year’s International Herstory Light Festival, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has been hosting a series of events in both Omagh and Enniskillen to ‘celebrate women’ including a ‘Girl Power Workshop’ which took place on Saturday, January 5 at Enniskillen Castle.

The FODC also illuminated Enniskillen Castle and the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh purple on four consecutive nights from Friday, January 4 to Monday, January 7, 2019 to coincide with the international festival.

The FODC’s focus on women and equality will continue with their upcoming exhibition, ‘Suffragettes, Scholars, Sisters & Spies: Women in Fermanagh 100 Years Ago’ which will run from January 28 to April 6, 2019.