The Women's Movement in Ireland

Bean na hÉireann (Women of Ireland) was the Journal of Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) which was a women’s organisation set up in 1900 by Maud Gonne MacBride. Helena Moloney, a member of Inghinidhe na hÉireann, became the editer of Bean na hÉireann, the paper advocated for feminism, nationalism, separatism from Britain and militancy. It gave women nationalists a voice. The paper was distributed freely to everyone, members of Inghinidhe na hÉireann, as well as men and women of Ireland. James Connolly, who was in America at the time, gave his support in writing to Bean na hÉireann. In February 1909 the journal’s editorial was a response to a letter by Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, in her letter Sheehy Skeffington urged women to push for parliamentary franchise.

Women had low status in Irish society in the early 1900s. They were prohibited from joining existing organisations such as The Land League, they were not allowed to own or inherit property. Women did not have the same opportunities as men when it came to education, they were not allowed to attend lectures at either or Trinity College, Dublin or University College Dublin, but they were allowed to sit the same examinations as the male students, this however small was an advancement for women. In 1900 women began to seek more rights, they wanted voting rights, at the time they were unable to join political parties and they were treated as second class citizens. Women’s participation in public life was frowned upon by the Catholic Church and other organisations that were male dominated, all of the above motivated a Women’s Movement in Ireland. The aims of Inghinidhe na hÉireann were; to promote Irish language, Irish literature, history, music and art, basic...

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12. http://womenworkersunion.ie/