women, the nationalist struggle and the irish free state international perspectives on gender week...
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Women, the Nationalist Struggle and the Irish Free State International Perspectives on Gender
Week 17
Structure of lecture Introduction and Historical Overview The Devotional Revolution The Great Famine Political and Cultural Nationalism Easter Rising and War of Independence Women and Irish Nationalism Post-Independence Conservatism Regulating Irish Womanhood Conclusions
Historical Overview 1900: Ireland still a British colony (since 12th century)
1916: Republican separatists staged ‘Easter Uprising’ – failed but seeds of independence sown
1921: War of independence between Britain and Ireland 1921: Truce declared and limited independence
achieved for 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland Partition: six-county state of Northern Ireland remained
under Britain; twenty-six counties became independent as the Irish Free State
Irish Free State heavily influenced by Catholicism. Not a Catholic state (dis-established in 1869) but church had great influence
Historical Overview
The Devotional Revolution Protestantism never took hold in Ireland, faith was haphazard
mix of Christian and pagan beliefs Informal way religion was practiced invoked by Britain as
marker of Irish ‘backwardness’ Devotional Revolution: Catholicism became means of re-
defining Irish identity: as civilized, different to British, superior to British. Also coming together after Great Famine
More rigid form of Catholicism – many new churches, increase in church going, more entering the church
Association of Ireland and Catholicism is a 19th century invention
By 20th century to be Irish was to be Catholic, and to be Catholic was to resist British imperialism
In areas shaded maroon, 100% of population depended on (inadequate) food rationsduring Great Famine
These areas saw greatestdeaths, and out-migration
Celebrates cheap English bread and supposed recovery of the Irish potato crop
The loaf is saying, ‘Well! old Fellow I'm delighted to see you looking so well– Why they said you had the Aphis Vastator’
The potato responds, ‘all humbug Sir never was better in my life thank Heaven’Punch cartoon, 1847
‘Famine Denial’
Population in 1841: 8.2 million
Population in 1851:6.6 million
Population in 1901:4.5 million
Year population recovered to 1841level: 1964
Political and Cultural Nationalism Nationalist struggle represented legally by Irish Parliamentary Party in House of Commons, seeking home rule
Militant nationalists wanted complete independence from Britain - represented by the Fenians and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
Cultural nationalism – revival of Irish language, the arts, literature
Punch Cartoon 1881 (John Tenniel)Clash of ‘good’ (Britannia) and ‘evil’ (Irish stone-throwing anarchist)
Gender, Catholicism & Nationalism More women than men embraced Catholicism. Numbers joining religious orders up by 800%
Virgin Mary as model for Irish women: idealised notion of a de-sexualised Irish womanhood
Women’s support for constitutional nationalism limited as didn’t have the vote
Women excluded from Fenians & Irish Republican Brotherhood Women organised themselves - Irish Women’s Centenary
Union formed 1897 to celebrate 1708 rising Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Ireland) formed 1900 Staunch in cultural nationalism, symbolically and materially Women also involved in counter-movement, Unionism And in other labour and suffrage movements 18 suffrage societies by 1918, incl. Irish Women’s Franchise
League Tensions between feminism and nationalism
Gender, Catholicism & Nationalism
Maud Gonne, 1856-1953, Irish Revolutionary andfounder of Daughters of Ireland, 1900
Women of IrelandMonthly Magazine of DaughtersOf Ireland
1914: home rule passed in the Commons, awaiting royal assent, postponed by 1st world war
1916: Irish Republican Brotherhood organised rebellion for Easter Declaration of a Republic hailed both Irishmen and Irishwomen as
citizens, guaranteed equal rights and opportunity
The Easter Rising
Eamon De Valera: told women to go home - it ‘wasn’t their place’
Leaders surrendered within a week and brutally dealt with (many hanged), increasing support for them
‘Here, after Easter week1916, the followingleaders were executed:…’
The War of Independence 1918 general election: Sinn Fein win landslide under De
Valera and set up illegal government, the Dail 1919-1921: War of Independence against Britain, guerrilla
war 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed based on Partition.
Accepted by DeValera’s govt but opposed by him
Eamon De Valera The Dail
Partition
Majority Protestantcounties in the north-eastremain part of UK
Majority Catholic countiesallowed to breakaway, but as a Crown Dominion, not the Republicdeclared in 1916
A bloody, guerrilla war, June 1922- May 1923
Fought between pro- and anti-Treaty nationalists
Anti-Treaty Republicans wanted full independence as one Irish Republic, undivided
Pro-Treaty Nationalists, inc. Michael Collins, were pragmatists
Collins shot dead in 1922 ambush De Valera (anti-Treaty, IRA)
resumed constitutional politics in 1926, forming Fianna Fáil
Civil War
Women and Irish Nationalism Women were members of Cuman na mBan (women’s unit of Irish Volunteers) and Irish Citizen Army
Countess Markievicz was a commanding officer, sentenced to death after Rising, commuted because a woman. In 1918 General Election she became first woman MP elected to House of Commons – never sat
As well as fighting directly women were: supporters of the military campaign; working for release of political prisoners, better conditions; involved in gun-running; creating safe-houses (on both sides) War of Independence and Civil War were fought in towns and cities, not distant trenches
Mrs Erskine Childers and Mary Spring Rice bringing German Arms to Howth, near Dublin, 1916
Post-Independence Conservatism Irish women excluded from nation building
Tradition prevailed because: many radical thinkers had died physical, economic, psychological
impact of two wars created
conservatism within Irish politics new government sought to prove
themselves by restoring a
conservative Catholic order Catholicism legitimated the new state Open association of Catholicism and the State
De Valera’s first Cabinet
Catholicism and the Law Catholic moral code enshrined in law, eg 1929 Censorship of Publication Act banned
pornography 1935 Criminal Law Amendment Act made it an
offence to sell or import contraception Similar religious fervour in North around
Protestantism 1925: two mutually antagonistic states, both religiously orthodox and patriarchal
Regulating Irish Womanhood Catholic Irishness meant women as homemakers
Family established as basic unit of nation 1937 Constitution set out DeValera’s ideology on womanhood Article 41.1
(i) The State recognises the family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.
(ii) The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State. Article 41.2 goes on:
(i) The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.
(ii) The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.
Women Exit the Public Sphere 1925 Act restricted women’s access to upper civil service 1927 Juries Bill exempted women from jury service Marriage bar in many occupations 1935 Conditions of Employment Act restricted number or proportion of
women in certain industries, or banning them New Catholic order was displayed on women’s bodies and lives DeValera’s ideal version of Irish womanhood: passive, meek, pure, good,
sacrificial, demure and deferential 1930-1960: women’s participation in paid-labour force decreased Agriculture and domestic service in decline and few new jobs for women
in manufacturing Women in paid work earned only 57% of men’s average wages Irish economy stagnated and high unemployment in 1950s especially
reinforced idea that jobs were only for men
Marriage or Destitution Little practical help offered to women as mothers and
homemakers by state:
in 1956 over 50% of households had no electricity
in 1961 more than 75% had no piped water women not entitled to welfare payments and vulnerable if
marriage broke down Non-contributory widows’ pensions introduced in 1936, but
deserted wives only qualified in 1976 Statutory family allowance introduced in
1944 but didn’t cover all children until
1963 ‘Fallen’ women were incarcerated
– Magdalene laundries/asylums
To school bare-foot in the 1950s
Cooking over an open fire
Cutting Turf for fuel
Such conservative constructions of Irish womanhood did meet opposition
Women organised politically and were members of both houses of the Oireachtas (Parliament)
Many women voted with their feet, emigrating But no outward rejection of the new state and the roles it prescribed
for women. Why?
economic survival was the main priority
Catholic legislation represented views of majority Women supported Church because it gave them importance Provided a space in which women’s lives of service and love had
meaning 1959: DeValera stood down as leader of Fianna Fail to become
President of Ireland Sean Lemass took his place, a moderniser
Why Many Women Cooperated
Conclusions Irish women were active in struggle for independence from
British rule but denied role in post-independence nation-building
Easter Rising did recognise women as full citizens, but failed and state that eventually emerged did not
Catholic Conservatism and tradition defined the Irish Free State
Irish Catholicism was entwined with Irish nationalism from 19th century onwards
Irish womanhood was scripted by church and state: to be wives and mothers only
Women’s labour force participation rate declined Women outside marriage faced destitution and stigma