Formerly our Director of Women's Studies, Penelope is a historian holding degrees from the University of Kent (Britain) and the University of Paris 7, and a longterm radical and feminist activist. She lectured at the first IIRE session in 1982 on the situation and radicalization of women workers and regularly lectures on women's participation in politics as well as general issues of radical strategy and organisation.
Penelope takes active responsibility in the overall planning and shaping of the political and educational programmes of the IIRE, particularly in developing specific programmes for women and youth activists.
She is the author of Working Paper no. 14, Helena Molony: Actress, Feminist, Nationalist, Socialist and Trade-Unionist, based on original research on the life of this Irish woman activist, and of no. 33, The Feminist Challenge to Traditional Political Organizing, based on her lectures. She is also co-editor with Heather Dashner of Notebook for Study and Research no. 22 , Women's Lives in the New Global Economy , bringing together contributions from other occasional lecturers or participants at IIRE courses.