Just four women were among the 83 people given the Freedom of the City of Dublin since the award was inaugurated in 1876 to June 2022. The genesis of this book lies in wanting, in some way, to address this very obvious gender imbalance and to showcase a variety of the very many accomplished women who lived before us. Collectively, these women were central to major social and political changes in our country’s history, excelled across diverse disciplines and realised major achievements in many different fields. Each left us with an important legacy and were influential role models. You may be familiar with some of the names but others are not well known outside their immediate circle. You’ll meet some very interesting women as you read through this book—a book that gives them all the keys of acknowledgement to our city.