Should the women of the 1916 Rising get a statue?

Dublin City Council has decided to honour the women who fought during the Irish Revolution, as it seeks to boost the representation of women among the capital’s statues. 

While the most famous figures who fought in the Easter Rising were men - such as Patrick, Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins were men, a significant number of women also took up arms. 

Some, such as Dr Kathleen Lynn worked as medics during the Rising, while others, such as Margaret Skinnider, served in combatant roles. 

While many historic figures are honoured in Dublin with statues, only 13% of them are women. 

One of which, that of Molly Malone, is a fictional character. 

“It seems to be easier to get a fictional female character to have a statue erected to them in the city than it is an actual living, breathing woman of note,” architectural historian  Emma Gilleece told Lunchtime Live.  

“We have Countess Markievicz, there's two statues to her, Sister Catherine McAuley, Constance Wilde, Oscar Wilde's wife, Veronica Guerin in Dublin Castle and Margaret Ball on Marlborough Street - standing next to her, I think it's her grandson, so she's even coupled with a man.”

The Molly Malone statue. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ms Gilleece added that she hopes the “shocking imbalance” will be addressed, hopefully with statues of actual women - rather than fictional characters. 

“I hope that the new statue that's being proposed is to a named woman and not just to the Irish women that were involved in the Lockout and the Rising,” she said. 

“I hope it is a depiction of a named individual, female individual.”