28 Facts About Inez McCormack

Inez McCormack was a Northern Irish trade union leader and human rights activist.

Inez McCormack was the first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, representing the UNISON union.

Inez McCormack successfully campaigned for the inclusion of strong equality and human rights provisions in the Good Friday Agreement, and was a signatory to the MacBride Principles for fair employment.

Inez McCormack was named by the American publication Newsweek in 2011 as one of "150 women who shake the world", and her life and work have been portrayed by Meryl Streep in the documentary play SEVEN.

Inez McCormack attended Magee College in Derry between 1964 and 1966 at the time of the controversial decision to locate Northern Ireland's second university in Coleraine: her "first taste of street politics, and a lesson in the nature of exclusion and abuse of power".

Inez McCormack's parents opposed her marriage to Vincent: "Mixed marriages weren't exactly popular or acceptable and there was a lot of reaction," she recalled.

Inez McCormack returned to Northern Ireland in late 1968 to find a burgeoning civil rights movement in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, describing the experience years later as "living through a historical defining moment".

Inez McCormack became active in the civil rights marches alongside her husband, and was at the People's Democracy march in 1969 that was famously attacked by Ulster loyalists, including off-duty police, in the Burntollet bridge incident.

Inez McCormack began a Diploma in Social Studies in 1969, commencing employment as a social worker in the Ballymurphy office of West Belfast Social Services in 1972.

Wracked by the Troubles, Ballymurphy at the time was "extraordinarily poor" and Inez McCormack carried out her duties amid gunfights and extreme deprivation.

Inez McCormack made contact with the National Union of Public Employees and they were subsequently accepted into the union with Inez McCormack acting as shop steward.

The transfer was eventually squashed, and Inez McCormack began working part-time for the union in 1974.

Just two years later, in 1976 Inez McCormack became the first female full-time official of the National Union of Public Employees and was given the unprecedented task of recruiting 1000 members within her first five months of employment.

Inez McCormack's efforts were markedly successful, increasing union membership from 800 to 15000 by the time UNISON was formed in 1993.

Inez McCormack continues to work for ethical globalization to ensure that no one is left behind.

Inez McCormack went on to become the first female regional secretary of UNISON, continuing to represent the low-paid women working as cleaners, home helps and nursing auxiliaries.

Inez McCormack continued her career in the trade union movement as the first woman to chair the Northern Ireland committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and served as the first female ICTU president.

Inez McCormack founded and led a broad coalition of groups who successfully argued for strong, inclusive equality and human rights provisions to be included in the Good Friday Agreement.

Inez McCormack was a signatory to the MacBride Principles for fair employment, and succeeded in galvanising Irish-American opinion to combat the early unpopular reception to the Principles in Northern Ireland.

In 2006 Inez McCormack founded Participation and Practice of Rights, a human rights organisation based in Belfast.

Inez McCormack was a founding member of the Vital Voices Global Advisory Council, and honoured in 2002 at Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in recognition of her contributions as a human rights advocate.

Inez McCormack was appointed in 2010 by the Irish government as the independent chair of a consultative process to develop an Irish National Action Plan to meet government obligations under the UN Resolution on Women, Peace and Security.

Inez McCormack received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast in 2000 for her services to human rights and the community.

Inez McCormack received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from New York City in 1997, the Aisling Person of the Year Community Award in 2001, and the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Award in 2008.

Inez McCormack received a posthumous LLD honorary doctorate from University of Ulster in 2013.

Inez McCormack was a well-known writer and broadcaster, and her work has been featured in a number of television programmes and documentaries.

Inez McCormack's career was featured in the 2010 American documentary play Seven.

The documentary, Inez McCormack: A Challenging Woman, produced and narrated by Susan McKay, won best short documentary award at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2014.