A ‘proper’ woman? One woman’s story of success and failure in academia

I am indebted to my sister, Stella Reeves, who has been a steadfast support to me since we were children, particularly since the death of our parents forty years ago. I am grateful for her many kindnesses, including tolerating me publishing this memoir. My nieces, Emma, Suzanne, Mags, Claire and Lizzie in their very different ways have enriched my life, as have their children: Eoin, Conor, Harry, Ciara, Isabel, Leo, Jeff, Bobby, Alannah, Maia, Clara, Robyn, Art, Fia, Blaise and Oscar. Friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers have shown me many kindnesses throughout my life and these have enabled me to maintain that kind of naive optimism which has been so important in sustaining me.

The original impetus to write this memoir came indirectly from my brother-in-law, Tommy Reeves who forwarded the link to Silver Threads, an online memoir writing group sent to him by his daughter/my niece Claire. I am grateful to them for this and to Tommy for his work on my mother's family history (which I draw on in Chapter 1). Cathy Fowley, the co-ordinator of Silver Threads and the other members of that group provided early encouragement and ideas. Miranda (Mo) Doyle, the leader of the Faber memoir writing course, and the other participants on that course provided helpful insights and suggestions. Finally, I benefitted from City University and Curtis Brown memoir writing courses as well as from the Writing and Meditation sessions run by Emer Philbin Bowman.

Stella Reeves, Julia Brannen, Deirdre O’Toole, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Brien, Ellen Hazelkorn and Tom Lodge read earlier drafts of the manuscript and I am grateful to them for their encouraging comments and suggestions. Brian Langan and Eamon Maher provided editorial assistance and I appreciated this. Tony Mason, the Commissioning editor for Peter Lang responded to the manuscript with heart-warming speed and alacrity and I thank him for that.

There is some limited overlap in content between this memoir and the chapter on ‘A Standard Career?’ in Generation and Gender in Academia, edited by B. Bagilhole and K. White, published by Palgrave Macmillan and I am happy to refer to that publication. The sub-section on Gender Equality in the Health Services in Chapter 4 draws on some of the material in the 1996 Economic and Social Review article and I am grateful for permission to draw on it. The academic article: ‘An Autoethnographic Account of a Pragmatic Inclusionary Strategy and Tactics as a Form of Feminist Activism’, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (2019), 38 (8): 825–40 deals with a part of my work life, but is obviously very different to this memoir.

The evocative image on the cover was created by Niall Toolan for Butler Claffey Design who used it for my book, Emerging Voices: Women in Contemporary Irish Society, published by the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin in 1998. Catherine Griffin helpfully suggested that I re-use it. That was facilitated by Gerry Butler, Signal Design, and I very much appreciated that.

This then is my story. There are particularities of time and location. The critical moments in my life will be different from many others. Other women may be less naive than I or more adept at learning the lessons of life. But the similarities are there.