# Hilda Tweedy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hilda_Tweedy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hilda_Tweedy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Tweedy > Source revision: 1292165920 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Irish women's rights activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Second row: Far left: Hilda Tweedy '''Hilda Tweedy''', ''née'' '''Anderson''' (1911–2005) was an Irish women's rights activist. A founding member and leader of the [Irish Housewives' Association](/source/Irish_Housewives_Association) (IHA), she was active for decades advocating for the rights of women on a diverse number of issues including equal pay, girls' education, recycling, the marriage bar (an Irish law that required a woman employed in the civil service to resign her position when she married), the right of women to serve on juries, and other issues.{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|last=Lunney|first=Linde|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=9780521633314|editor-last=McGuire|editor-first=James|location=Cambridge|chapter=Tweedy, (Muriel) Hilda Anderson|editor-last2=Quinn|editor-first2=James}} In 1973, she became the first chairperson of the Council for the Status of Women.{{cite book |last1=Ingman |first1=Heather |title=Twentieth-Century Fiction by Irish Women: Nation and Gender |date=2 March 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-87721-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odpADgAAQBAJ&pg=PT12 |access-date=17 April 2025 |language=en}} ==Life== Hilda Anderson was born in [Clones, County Monaghan](/source/Clones%2C_County_Monaghan) on 26 August 1911. She was the eldest of three girls born to Rev. James Ferguson Anderson and Muriel Frances Victoria Swayne. She was educated at [Alexandra College](/source/Alexandra_College). After leaving school, she joined her parents in Egypt. From 1929 to 1936, she lived in Egypt, starting a [PNEU](/source/PNEU) school in [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria), and reading for an external mathematics degree from the [University of London](/source/University_of_London). In 1936, she married Robert Tweedy in Egypt, and returned to [Dublin](/source/Dublin).{{cite book|last1=Law|first1=Cheryl|title=Women, a modern political dictionary|date=2000|publisher=Tauris|location=London|isbn=9781860645020|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc/page/149 149]|url=https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc|url-access=registration|chapter=Tweedy, Hilda|access-date=4 August 2021}} Tweedy was refused a job as a teacher on the grounds that if she became pregnant it would be unpleasant for her students. With the onset of [World War II](/source/World_War_II), she resolved to tackle the effects of wartime food shortages on children. Her efforts with four other women resulted in the Housewives Petition of 1941, out of which grew the [Irish Housewives Committee](/source/Irish_Housewives_Committee) in 1942, which became the IHA in 1946. Under Tweedy's leadership the IHA incorporated the [Irish Women's Citizens Association](/source/Irish_Women's_Citizens_Association) in 1947, a group founded to lobby for reform of the [1937 Constitution of Ireland](/source/Constitution_of_Ireland) which defined (Article 41.2) women as home-makers.{{Cite journal|last=Gray|first=Jane|date=2010-03-25|title=Gender Politics and Ireland|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/363608/summary|journal=Journal of Women's History|volume=7|issue=1|pages=240–249|doi=10.1353/jowh.2010.0330|s2cid=144711868 |issn=1527-2036|url-access=subscription}} The merger "strengthened our feminist convictions" explained Tweedy. The work of the IHA expanded from just consumer rights to advocating for political rights. The organization fought for accessible nutritious food, public health, social welfare, and education for all.{{Cite web|title=Hilda Tweedy Papers (Irish Housewives Association) – The National Archives of Ireland|url=https://www.nationalarchives.ie/article/hilda-tweedy-papers-irish-housewives-association/|access-date=2020-10-07|language=en-US}} She was the official Irish delegate to the United Nations [World Conference on Women in 1975](/source/World_Conference_on_Women%2C_1975). In 1992, she published ''A Link in the Chain: The Story of the Irish Housewives Association 1942–1992.'' In 2003, she donated her papers to the [National Archives of Ireland](/source/National_Archives_of_Ireland). ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * {{cite book |ref=none |last1=Hayes |first1=Alan |title=Hilda Tweedy and the Irish Housewives Association: Links in the Chain |date=24 August 2012 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-1-85132-033-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZZGLgEACAAJ |access-date=17 April 2025 |language=en}} == External links == * [http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/womens_history/Tweedy.pdf Description of the Hilda Tweedy Papers at the National Archives of Ireland.] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedy, Hilda}} Category:1911 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Irish women's rights activists Category:County Monaghan --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hilda Tweedy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Tweedy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Tweedy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.