-
Period: to
The Changing Role of Women in the 19th and 20th Century
-
Dublin's Women Suffrage Association
The Dublin Women's Suffrage Association was an organisation for women's suffrage which was set up in Dublin in 1874. Its first secretaries were Anna Haslam and Miss McDowell. As well as campaigning for women's suffrage, it sought to advance women's position in local government.
Prominent members of the association in the 20th century were Lady Margaret Dockrell and Bridget Dudley Edwards. -
Inghínidhe na hÉireann
Maud Gonne led the first women's newspaper called "Bean na hÉireann". http://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/handle/10599/10464 -
Irish Women's Workers Union
The Irish Women Workers’ Union was founded at a public meeting held on September 5th 1911 in the old Antient Concert Hall on Great Brunswick. Within weeks the new organisation, which was initially effectively a semi autonomous branch of the ITGWU, was involved in a successful dispute over pay with Jacob’s, then the largest employer of women in Dublin. http://womenworkersunion.ie/ -
Countess Markievicz
The first woman elected to the House of Commons. She went on to be the first woman to be a Cabinet Minister and served as Minister for Labour from April 1919 to January 1922, in the Second Ministry and the Third Ministry of the Dáil. -
Women get the Right to Vote
Irish women were granted equal voting rights in 1922 when the Irish Free State broke away from the United Kingdom, and they were bestowed full voting rights in the United Kingdom in 1928. -
The Juries Act
Members of a jury had to be male and property owners. -
-
Irish Women's Liberation Movement
In 1970 the Irish Women's Liberation Movement was launched. The founders included a number of journalists who were to disseminate its message to the media. A manifesto, Chains or Change, was agreed and delivered to the people of Ireland on the 'Late Late Show' of 6 March 1971. It contained five demands: equal pay, equality before the law, equal education, contraception and justice for deserted wives, unmarried mothers and widows. -
The Removal of the Marriage Bar
Female civil servants and other public servants had to resign from their jobs when they got married, on the grounds that they were occupying a job that should go to a man. Banks operated a similar policy. The marriage bar in the public service was removed in July 1973, on foot of the report of the first Commission on the Status of Women. In 1977, the Employment Equality Act prohibited discrimination on the grounds of gender or marital status in almost all areas of employment. -
Social Welfare Act
The 1944 legislation that introduced the payment of children’s allowances (now called child benefit) specified that they be paid to the father. The father could, if he chose, mandate his wife to collect the money, but she had no right to it. Responding to the report of the Commission on the Status of Women, the 1974 Social Welfare Act entitled mothers to collect the allowance. -
Legislation for Equal Pay
Anti-Discrimination Pay which led to the Employment Equality Act 1977. -
Family Law Act
In 1970, a women who was hospitalised after a beating by her husband faced a choice of either returning home to her abuser or becoming homeless. Abusive spouses could not be ordered to stay away from the family home, leaving many women little choice but to seek refuge elsewhere. In 1976, the Family Law Act, Ireland’s first legislation on domestic violence, enabled one spouse to seek a barring order against the other where the welfare or safety of a spouse or children was at risk. -
Court Case against the Juries Act
Mairín de Burca and Mary Anderson challenged the Act and won their case in the Supreme Court in 1976. The old Act was repealed and citizens over 18 who are on the electoral register are eligible for juries. -
Family Home Protection Act
Under Irish law, a married woman had no right to a share in her family home, even if she was the breadwinner. Her husband could sell the home without her consent. Under the Family Home Protection Act of 1976, neither spouse can sell the family home without the written consent of the other. -
Employment Equality Act
In 1977, the Employment Equality Act prohibited discrimination on the grounds of gender or marital status in almost all areas of employment. -
Protection Orders Introduced
In 1976 the Family Law Act, Ireland’s first legislation on domestic violence, enabled one spouse to seek a barring order against the other where the welfare or safety of a spouse or children was at risk. The orders were for three months and were poorly implemented. In 1981, protection orders were introduced and barring orders were increased up to 12 months. -
Recognition of Foreign Divorces Bill
Under Irish law, a married woman was deemed to have the same “domicile” as her husband. This meant that if her husband left her and moved to Australia, her legal domicile was deemed to be Australia. Women, who could not get a divorce in Ireland, could find themselves divorced in countries where their husbands were domiciled. Nuala Fennell drove forward the Domicile and Recognition of Foreign Divorces Bill in 1985. It granted married women the right to an independent domicile. -
Equal Status Act
In 2002, the Equal Status Act banned gender discrimination in the provision of goods and services. It defined discrimination as “less favourable treatment”. Service can be refused only if there is a reasonable risk of disorderly or criminal conduct.
