In awe of the mná. Some of these documentaries sound excellent.
RTÉ’s new documenary series will tell the stories of Ireland’s most trailblazing females when Herstory: Ireland’s EPIC Women airs this February.
Between St. Brigid’s Day, 1 February, and International Women’s Day on 8 March, RTÉ will celebrate the achievements of Irish women who broke new ground, and whose work changed the lives of others.
The six-part documentary series on RTÉ One will tell the stories of some of Ireland’s most remarkable pioneers in the fields of business, politics, science, the arts, aviation and technology.
In terms of the narrative focus and people being documented, one episode will revolve around the record-setting and daredevil aviator Lady Mary Heath, a Limerick woman of many ‘firsts’ and one of the best known women in the world in the 1920s.
Elsewhere, the life of groundbreaking computer programmer Kay McNulty will also be documented, she was a Donegal Gaeilgeoir who was one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.
Pioneering Cork surgeon Dr. James Barry – who lived as a man to pursue a medical career and whose many achievements include performing the first successful caesarean section in the British Empire in which both mother and baby survived – will also have her story told.
An episode will be dedicated to Cork-born activist and union leader Mother Jones – declared as “the most dangerous woman in America” at one point – who founded the Social Democratic Party and helped establish the Industrial Workers of the World.
Finally, the lives of Dubliner Oonah Keogh, a successful trader and entrepreneur who became the world’s first female member of a Stock Exchange,
and Wicklow-born choreographer, director and founder of the Royal Ballet Ninette de Valois will also be documented.
The first episode of the six-part series will air on 3 February at 8.30pm on RTÉ One.
Aside from these documentaries, an 18-part podcast series will bring to light the stories of 18 more Irish female pioneers from history.
Take a look at what’s in store.
Clip via RTÉ – IRELAND’S NATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
