Diverse voices
Irene Calvert
Irene Calvert was an economist and had been a wartime Chief Welfare Officer for Northern Ireland.
She resettled evacuated Gibraltarians in 1940 and managed the care of people following the Belfast Blitz in 1941.
She was elected in 1945 to one of the four seats in the Queen’s University of Belfast constituency, campaigning for reforms to education and child welfare legislation.
She resigned in 1953 and became Managing Director of the Ulster Weaving Company and the first female President of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce.
She also chaired the Standing Conference of Women's Organisations.
Eileen Hickey
Dr Eileen Hickey was a senior physician in the Mater Hospital, Belfast. In 1929, she was appointed clinical examiner in medicine for QUB, the first woman to hold the post. She was President of the Ulster Medical Society, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and was a Member of the Board of Governors of the Mater Hospital. Eileen Hickey was first elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1949 to one of the four seats in the Queen’s University of Belfast constituency. She served as an independent Member of Parliament until she stood down in 1958. She was awarded a gold medal of Medicine from QUB.
Sheelagh Murnaghan
From 1961 to 1969, the Ulster Liberal Party’s one seat in the Parliament of Northern Ireland was held by Sheelagh Murnaghan.
She was elected to one of the four seats in the Queen’s University of Belfast constituency.
While an MP, she campaigned to abolish the death penalty and for a bill of human rights.
Prior to entering politics, she became one of the first female barristers to practise in Northern Ireland.
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Anna Lo
Anna Lo was elected as an MLA for South Belfast in 2007 and served until stepping down in 2016.
She was President of the Alliance Party and became Chair of the Committee for the Environment in 2011.
Anna Lo was born in North Point, Hong Kong and was the first politician of an ethnic minority background to be elected to the Assembly. She was the first person born in East Asia to be elected to any legislative body in the UK.
She was Director of the Northern Ireland Chinese Welfare Association and was awarded an MBE in 1999 for Services to Ethnic Minorities.
