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Reading some excerpts from the #motherandbabyhomes report, I am struck by a few things.
It is similar to some other reports into institutional wrongdoing in Ireland's past in that there is a lot of commentary about how there isn't "evidence".
It is similar to some other reports into institutional wrongdoing in Ireland's past in that there is a lot of commentary about how there isn't "evidence".
And the stories that women told are classed as just that - "stories". As if these are different from evidence.
It subtly signals to the reader that the stories aren't as good as evidence, it demeans them.
But how *could* there be evidence?
It subtly signals to the reader that the stories aren't as good as evidence, it demeans them.
But how *could* there be evidence?
The horrible things said to those women don't leave physical evidence. Being forced to clean a floor over and over doesn't leave physical evidence.
And how could there be evidence when everyone turned their backs at the time anyway?
And how could there be evidence when everyone turned their backs at the time anyway?
Officials visited these homes and looked the other way or didn't look at all. They shrugged their shoulders and said "it's fine" and went on their way.
How could there ever be evidence when they all worked so hard to not see what was going on?
How could there ever be evidence when they all worked so hard to not see what was going on?
The stories these women told are evidence. That they have been embedded so permanently and painfully in their minds is evidence.
When we put out report after report saying these are stories, the implied "just stories", we continue to demean these women.
When we put out report after report saying these are stories, the implied "just stories", we continue to demean these women.
The report seems eager to look to apportion blame to everyone, to the families who dropped off their daughters, to the men who abandoned their pregnant partners, but there was context there - they did this because of the way our religious led society valued and devalued women.
A religious led society which valued women as brood mares, but only if it was done on their accepted terms (i.e. within marriage).
Unmarried sex was bad, but married sex and the resultant babies was saintly. Ireland didn't just kick that off a stone. It was the church.
Unmarried sex was bad, but married sex and the resultant babies was saintly. Ireland didn't just kick that off a stone. It was the church.
It's all just heartbreaking again. Another assertion that women have spent so long here valued only for their reproduction. Another assertion that if you tell someone about the way you've been treated, you probably won't be believed. It's exhausting.
People did not do their best. Women were not treated as they should have been.
Their stories deserve to be heard, they should echo loudly around the world, because these are not just abstract stories. This is a deep scar on the history of Ireland that has not even begun to heal.
Their stories deserve to be heard, they should echo loudly around the world, because these are not just abstract stories. This is a deep scar on the history of Ireland that has not even begun to heal.
It will take me some time, but as I have done with other similar reports, I will read it all.
These women deserve that, and so much more. I will hear their stories. And I will believe them.
These women deserve that, and so much more. I will hear their stories. And I will believe them.
