Irish Women In The First World War Era

This book is the first collection of essays to focus exclusively on Irish women’s experiences in the First World War period, 1914-18, across the island of Ireland, contextualising the wartime realities of women’s lives in a changing political landscape. The essays consider experiences ranging from the everyday realities of poverty and deprivation, to the contributions made to the war effort by women through philanthropy and by working directly with refugees. Gendered norms and assumptions about women’s behaviour are critically analysed, from the rhetoric surrounding ‘separation women’ and their use of alcohol, to the navigation of public spaces and the attempts to deter women from perceived immoral behaviour. Political life is also examined by leading scholars in the field, including accounts from women on both sides of the ‘Irish question’ and the impact the war had on their activism and ambitions. Finally, new light is shed on the experiences of women working in munitions factories around Ireland and the complexity of this work in the Irish context is explored. Throughout, it is asserted that while there were many commonalities in women’s experiences throughout the British and Irish Isles at this time, the particular political context of Ireland added a different, and in many respects an unexamined, dimension. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women’s History Review.

This book is the first collection of essays to focus exclusively on Irish women's experiences in the First World War period, 1914-18, across the island of Ireland, contextualising the wartime realities of women's lives in a changing political landscape. The essays consider experiences ranging from the everyday realities of poverty and deprivation, to the contributions made to the war effort by women through philanthropy and by working directly with refugees. Gendered norms and assumptions about women's behaviour are critically analysed, from the rhetoric surrounding 'separation women' and their use of alcohol, to the navigation of public spaces and the attempts to deter women from perceived immoral behaviour. Political life is also examined by leading scholars in the field, including accounts from women on both sides of the 'Irish question' and the impact the war had on their activism and ambitions. Finally, new light is shed on the experiences of women working in munitions factories around Ireland and the complexity of this work in the Irish context is explored. Throughout, it is asserted that while there were many commonalities in women's experiences throughout the British and Irish Isles at this time, the particular political context of Ireland added a different, and in many respects an unexamined, dimension. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review. ries around Ireland and the complexity of this work in the Irish context is explored. Throughout, it is asserted that while there were many commonalities in women's experiences throughout the British and Irish Isles at this time, the particular political context of Ireland added a different, and in many respects an unexamined, dimension. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review.

The first full-length study to explore the impact of the Great War on the lives of women in Ireland. Fionnuala Walsh examines women's mobilisation for the war effort, and the impact of the war on their employment opportunities, family and domestic life, social morality and politicisation.

The publication of this book in 1999 provided the first detailed examination of the many Irish men and women, all volunteers, who served in the Second World War. It led the way for further study and the author has continued to research the subject, especially the numbers of Irish who served. In this updated edition, new sources and careful examination show the numbers of Irish in the UK forces - at over 133,000 - to be higher than hitherto believed. That figure includes over 66,000 personnel from Éire and some 64,000 from Northern Ireland. They served in every service and every theatre of war as their stories show. Irish soldiers fought in France and Norway in 1940, in the Middle East and Burma, Italy and in the campaign to liberate Europe. Irish sailors hunted the Graf Spee and Bismarck and protected convoys from U-boats while Irish airmen protected the UK in 1940 and took the war to the skies over Europe, the Middle East and Far East. Irish women served in roles critical to the success of the fighting services. Richard Doherty tells their stories using a wide array of sources including personal interviews, contemporary documents, citations for gallantry awards - among them the Vi

This book assessed the impact of conflict on women in 20th century Ireland, and how women responded to and influenced these conflicts. Their roles ranged from combatants, pioneers and workers, victims and survivors, prisoners, poets, playwrights and artists. Drawing on original research from a range of international scholars, this book considers women and war through a myriad of themes- militarism, morality, political activism and motherhood- through the lens of a variety of sources. Whatever their socio-economic or political background, a common thread of engagement links Irish women in wartime as they challenged and changed societies subsumed by hostilities.

Based on interviews with over thirty Irish women, this book covers their experiences during the Second World War years and how the war impacted on them in terms of their public and private roles. Themes such as class and income, employment, health, and housing are covered, arising from the women's recollections and international research into women and war. The women, from a variety of family and social backgrounds, mainly lived and worked in Belfast and Dublin between 1939 and 1945, but some of them went to Britain to take up war work. The women's own stories are compared with contemporary observations from a number of sources, including the Mass-Observation diary of Belfast woman, Moya Woodside. Other comparisons are made with newspaper commentaries and the files of government and other public bodies responsible for shaping social policy. The book shows that despite the many restrictions that the interviewees faced, in terms of access to education, employment opportunities, and to equal treatment in a number of spheres, most of them overcame the obstacles in their way, some of which were considerable. Although the research demonstrated that in economic, political, and social terms the war did not make any significant impact on Irish women, the evidence of the individuals who contributed their memories showed that it offered them opportunities to 'spread their wings', as one of the women described her activities. The book also compares the position of Irish women with their contemporaries in other western countries. While there has been a lot of research on the topic of women and war in other countries, no comparable work has yet been carried out here. Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

The First World War had an enormous impact on Ireland. Over 240,000 Irish men and women volunteered to serve with the Allied forces, suffering almost 40,000 casualties. The Irish contribution to the air war remains overlooked, not just in Ireland, but also by historians generally. Although just 6,000 Irish served with the Allied flying services at a cost of 500 casualties, their impact was out of all proportion to their numbers. The contribution of Irish aces of the RFC and RAF to the Allied cause was enormous, just over thirty of whom accounted for 400 enemy aircraft. Irishmen such as Mannock, McElroy and Hazell were among the highest-scoring pilots of the war. Some were revered by their men, others were controversial figures – reckless with their own lives and those under their command – but many of their stories remain untold. This book seeks to restore all those who were written out of Irish history, while also providing for their achievements to be considered in the overall context of the first air war. Illustrations: 24 black-and-white photographs

A major new history of the experiences and activities of Irish nationalist women in the early twentieth century.