Women’s History in Ireland

Abstract

Women’s history in Ireland appears to be in the early stages of a period of significant growth. The volume of published work, while still very small, has been increasing steadily over the past few years. The same few years have seen the emergence for the first time of what can be called a community of historians of women. As yet we have not achieved an infrastructure in the sense of funding, resources and a secure base in academe, but the essential ingredient of enthusiasm is present and expanding. The status of women’s history in the academy is still far from satisfactory. As yet no Irish university has a professorship or lectureship in women’s history. Courses in women’s history do not form part of the core or compulsory curriculum. Nor does the position of women academics hold out much promise for the immediate future. Women constitute only a small minority of the academic staff in the country’s history departments and not one chair of history is occupied by a woman.KeywordsIrish WomanIrish SocietySexual Double StandardWoman AcademicCatholic WomanThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.