Ireland: A Private Patriarchy?

Abstract

Ireland has recently been characterised as a country dominated by private patriarchy. One indicator of private patriarchy is the incidence of women engaged in full-time ‘home duties’ rather than in paid employment. The participation of women in the Irish labour force has been comparatively very low because the majority of married women in Ireland are full-time housewives. Persistently high fertility rates—in 1987 the highest in Europe—and a state ideology which enshrined women's position in the home explained this phenomenon in the past. One might have expected industrialisation to have promoted greater change, yet its influence was minimal. Early industrialisation did not create a demand for female labour. In the 1960s export-oriented industrialisation generated a demand for female labour but this was obstructed by patriarchal state policy. In the 1970s, EU membership removed many legislative restrictions on the labour-force participation of married women. However, a patriarchal family based taxation policy and the absence of state supported child care still perpetuate private patriarchy in Ireland.