'March of the Mummies' for women's rights

Subverting the week that is in it, a group of women from the city have organised a rally to protest against what they described as the ‘ghoulish’ treatment meted out to women here.

The rally or the ‘March of the Mummies’ is assembling at the Peace Garden, adjacent to the Guildhall, at 12 noon on Saturday (October 29), before making its way across the Peace Bridge to Ebrington Square.

Speaking to Derry Now, ‘March of the Mammies’ co-organiser Becca Barnes said all mammies, grannies, wains and prams were very welcome to take part.

Becca added: “Through the ‘March of the Mummies’ we are calling for, free and accessible healthcare; sick pay and carer’s leave; an end to the gender pay gap; an end to the two child policy; and reproductive and sexual healthcare for all.”

Becca has been involved in several activist organisations including Alliance for Choice.

“I am also a member of People Before Profit and I was on the Foyle Pride committee. I saw that a group I follow on social media called ‘‘Pregnant and Screwed’ was organising similar rallies across the UK, including the North and I thought, ‘Let’s do that here’.

“I would belong to a variety of different WhatsApp groups for Surestart, breastfeeding mummies and mummies who are looking to meet up and do things with each other during the day, so I just put the idea of doing something similar out there. I also put it into Alliance for Choice and some other group chats where I knew there were a lot of women involved.

“I asked people if they would be interested in having a rally in Derry and people said it was a great idea,  so I just organised a Zoom and 13 or 14 people turned up and organised the nuts and bolts of it.

“We are going to have a little ‘speak out’ in Ebrington. In addition, we are going to have mummies, grannies and kids in prams, holding up the walls of Ebrington to show the weight and the burden of the cost of living crisis and everything is really on our shoulders,” said Becca.

Becca said people also liked the idea of opening up the rally, after the speakers, for people to speak their own truth or talk about the things they wanted to say.

She added: “In terms of the ‘March of the Mammies’ demands, childcare is obviously a huge issue, especially in Derry.

“The cost is just crippling. One of the things that really came out on the Zoom was  grannies feeling under pressure. This leads on to a lot of women not feeling like they can choose to have more children. 

“I know a lot of people who have one kid and want to have more or have two kids and want to have more but they just can’t even think about it financially. 

“Then there is Alliance for Choice as well and even having access to reproductive rights is such a difficult thing. 

“These were all things women on the Zoom were talking about, that are not necessarily highlighted. We also have the gender pay gap, which is enormous and all the years women take out of the workforce, and people not knowing how to claim for pensions.

“Women are just missing out on years of pension contributions because of child rearing and precarious contracts,” said Becca, who added it was great to have the conversation about what people are facing. 

“I am on a lot of breastfeeding groups and people are just talking about feeling the stigma and the lack of support or  not knowing where to turn in terms of feeding their babies.

“In some ways it was very cathartic to have a conversation like that but just also why we wanted to do a rally because we all know women hold up the world.

“I think, particularly in a place like Derry, where the shirt factory women have only just finally got their plaques, is there even enough recognition of women here, let alone everywhere?

“And in terms of  the cost of living crisis, it is women who are going to be thinking about how they are going to feed their families and that is why I wanted to hold the ‘March of the Mummies’ rally.”