Social Democrat TD Sinead Gibney, elected in Dublin Rathdown constituency, shares how becoming a mother at 23 and a single parent influenced her priorities and activism journey.
Social Democrats TD Sinead Gibney, who has now been elected in her constituency of Dublin Rathdown to become a first-time TD, has told how becoming a mum when she was 23 years old “helped me make sense of my own world and my own priorities as a young woman”.
“And I know that that's not the case for everybody who faces into parenting alone. In fact, most people are much more likely to face poverty and experience poverty, living in single parent households. So I do qualify it, but nonetheless, there are ways in which as a single parent, you're just not the standard family and and society kind of treats you differently. That was definitely something that sparked my own interest in becoming more involved in social causes.
"But on the other hand, it did prove difficult at times having to navigate what my mum felt were her parenting approaches versus mine — we had three mums, obviously, with my grandma, my mum and myself in the house. It wasn’t a straightforward situation, but one which really worked for all of us in the end.”
Sinead told how it was something she had “thought long and hard about” — and how she had given Bella’s dad “every chance to tell them himself and really prompted him to do that”, but knew he wasn’t going to when he stopped responding to her emails. She opened up about making the move from working in the private sector to the public sector — and the moment that reminded her “of how much I wanted to be a change maker in the world and somebody who can leave a legacy of equality”.
“But within a profit-driven environment, there's only ever so much you're going to be able to do — so that equality studies Master's reminded me of how much I wanted to be a change maker in the world and somebody who can leave a legacy of equality. “It’s just been something — I guess I’ve always had a philosophy or just a way of life where, if an opportunity presents itself, I’ll go for it. I’ll put myself forward for things, even if not everyone around me believes that I’m gonna get it. It’s really served me well.”
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS SINEAD GIBNEY TD SINGLE MOTHERHOOD ACTIVISM
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