Women In Public Life

World Stamp Today:

MARCH 3, 2023

Ireland's An Post issues four stamps marking the outstanding contribution of Women in Public Life, just ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023. 

The four Irish women featured on the new national stamps are:

Mary Robinson - first woman President of Ireland, served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and is Chair of the Elders, Realizing Rights and the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Change.

Susan Denham - barrister, senior counsel, High Court judge and a member of the Supreme Court who also served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 2011 to 2017, the first woman to hold the position.

Jennie Wyse Power (1858 – 1941) was a founding member and former president of Cumann na mBan, long serving Senator and activist against gender discrimination.

Thekla Beere (1901-1991) was the first woman appointed Secretary of a government department and in 1970, chaired the Commission on the Status of Women. 

Dublin based, Oonagh Young of Design HQ did the design of the stamps and are based on primary source materials, such as newspapers, academic chronicles and posters relating to the women featured. 

Debbie Byrne, Managing Director at An Post, said the new stamps "celebrate women who are change-makers in their own lifetime... whether through their service to public life or their determined focus on social justice, the stamps capture the career achievements of these women in living their purpose to improve the lives of others in Ireland and globally." 

This is the newest in a series of stamps by An Post marking women's contributions to Irish life, that include Irish Women in Sport (2022), Jane, Lady Wilde/Speranza (2021) and Pioneering Irish Women (2020).

(Concept and research: Richard Allan Uy) All rights reserved