Women In Twentieth Century Ireland Flashcards
(11 cards)
define the term suffragette
A woman seeking the right to vote through an organised protest
Tell me about education for women in the 20th century
the number of girls attending primary schools had increased in the 1800s due to the efforts of Catholic religious orders but the number of girls attending secondary school remained very low. It was only in 1908 that all universities in Ireland were open to women. In the years afterwards about 10% of university students, women, but we’re only from wealthy and middle class backgrounds.
Tell me about employment for women in the 20th century Ireland
In the early part of the 20th century, women were expected to marry and have children. Their husband would provide for them so there is no need for them to work. Some woman worked before they got married but had to give up those jobs on marriage. Middle class women did not work but poorer woman worked as maid, cooks and nannies.
Tell me about the change in women’s politics in 20 century Ireland
In 1922 Constitution of the Irish free states gave the vote to all women and men over the age of 21. At this time the voting age for British woman was 30. Very few women were elected to the dáil in the first decade of the state and those who were made very little to no impact. No woman was appointed as a government minister until 1919 when Máire Geoghegan Quinn became minister for the Gaeltacht.
Tell me about the position changes for women in 20 century Ireland
By 2000 women made up over 40% of the workforce but were more likely to have low paid positions. A low percentage of employed women had well paying positions. However women did make up 55% of university students in 2000 and were more likely to pursue professional careers in law, medicine, business or education compared to their mothers. In politics, there’s been some progress towards equality. Mary Robinson was elected president in 1990 followed by another woman Mary McAleese and in 1993 Mary Harney became the first woman to lead a political party.
Tell me about woman’s rights in the 20th century
Suffrage: The campaign for women’s voting rights. Women who campaigned for this were known as suffragettes. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington founded the Irish Women’s Franchise League (IWFL) in 1908, which used parades, attacks on property, and hunger strikes to campaign for women’s votes.
Tell me about woman in independent movements in the 20 century
In 1914, Cumann na mBan was founded to support the independence movement and became an auxiliary force to the Irish Volunteers in 1916. Women like Countess Constance Markievicz participated in the Easter Rising as fighters and messengers. Military pensions were often denied to these women. In 1918, Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to Westminster but did not take her seat. She later served as Minister for Labour in the First Dail.
Tell me about the gradual change in woman’s rights in the 20th century
• Economic expansion in the 1960s led to more jobs for women, who by 1970 made up 25% of the workforce.
• Women benefited from free education and increased access to universities.
• Shows like the Late Late Show debated controversial topics, changing societal attitudes over time.
Tell me about Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest against racial segregation on public buses in Montgomery, Alabama. It began in 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. The boycott lasted over a year and led to a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on buses was unconstitutional. It was a pivotal event in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Tell me about Countess Constance Markievicz
Countess Constance Markievicz was born in 1968 in London into the Anglo-Irish aristocracy and grew up at her family’s estate, Lissadell, in Co. Sligo. In 1908, she joined the revolutionary women’s group Daughters of Ireland and Sinn Féin. The following year she formed Soldiers of Ireland, a republican youth organisation. She provided food for workers and their families during the 1913 Strike and Lockout. In April 1916 Markievicz took part in the Easter Rising and fought in St Stephen’s Green. Her advice to female rebels thinking of taking up arms in 1916 was to ‘dress suitably in short skirts and sitting boots boots, leave your jewels and gold wands in the bank, and buy a revolver’. She was arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death. However, she was shown mercy ‘solely on account of her sex’. December 1918, while still serving time in prison, Markievicz became the first woman ever to be elected to the House of Commons. She refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the king and so did not take her seat. Markievicz was against the Anglo-Irish Treaty and joined de Valera’s Fianna Fáil party on its founding in 1926. She died in 1927.
Tell me about the institutional abuse of women
Women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage could be sent to Mother and Baby Homes by their families to avoid public shame. There they would have their children in secret and the children would then be put up for adoption, often without the permission of their mothers. These homes were run by Catholic nuns and the women were expected to work for no pay until their children were born. Some 64,000 women gave birth in these places between 1922 and 1996. They were treated appallingly, subjected to regular beatings and were not allowed to leave. For decades, fear of being sent to these places was used to keep women in line. The last of these institutions closed its doors in 1996 and the Irish state formally apologised to the Mother and Baby Home survivors in 2021.
