Women and power in Ireland: Problems,progress, practice

A major problem confronting Irish feminists centres on how the transition from a first phase of consciousness-raising and more or less separatist analysis and action to a second phase of broad-based mobilisation for policy-change is to be achieved, without losing sight of, or faith in, the long-term goal of a radical transformation of sexual power relations. As part of the necessary reappraisal of our present position, fundamental to the development of new strategies, this paper describes the extent to which women in Ireland are chronically and grossly underrepresented in power élites, and analyses some of the barriers which have precluded—and in large measure continue to preclude—women's equal participation in the decision and policy-making processes. More optimistically, the conclusion briefly indicates the challenge to traditional forms of political organisation represented by the emergence of alternative forms of political activism, initiated and developed by women over the past several years.     

Unmarried mothers in Ireland, 1880-1973

This article explores the changing experiences and representation of Ireland's unmarried mothers from 1880 to 1973. It focuses on the stigma of illegitimacy in political and cultural discourse and the representation of unmarried mothers as immoral and their children as a drain on resources. These remained constant themes within the discourse of unmarried motherhood in Ireland throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The article uses the records of philanthropic, government and religious organisations to chart the rising interest in the moral reformation of unmarried mothers at the end of the nineteenth century and rising tolerance towards them by the end of the twentieth century.     

In pursuit of true Anglican Womanhood in Victoria, 1880-1914

As colonial women sought to extend their sphere of moral influence they encountered opposition from the Churches, which saw themselves as the proper guardians of public morality. This paper examines the attitudes of the Anglican Church at the turn of the century in regard to the ‘woman question‘, and argues that the Church acted to contain the threat posed by women's expanding sphere while continuing to benefit from, and indeed depend upon, women's fund-raising and administrative activities.     

1860-1880年英国工会与劳资关系立法

英国工会作为劳资关系的重要组成部分,在英国劳资关系史上占据非常重要的地位,对英国劳资关系立法起着重要作用.但是,工会在成立之初,其主要目标并不是推动政府的立法,工会对劳资关系立法起到持续性推动作用是19世纪下半叶才开始的.     

A feminist family: the stracheys and feminism,c. 1860-1950

This article explores the importance and meaning of feminism within one prominent British family across two generations, spanning the later nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. It discusses the changing nature of feminist activism, the ways in which suffrage and feminist activities could become full-time occupations for some women and looks at the links between personal or personal relationships that this sometimes entailed. Focusing on the younger women in the family, however, it also shows how feminism came to be seen as antithetical to modernity and as having little to offer those who sought personal and sexual emancipation in the period after the First World War.     

Working for Jewish girls: Lily Montagu,girls' clubs and industrial reform 1890-1914

Lily Montagu was involved in social work and religious ministry with the London Jewish community for over sixty years. This article considers the significance of her involvement in the girls' club movement and her efforts towards workplace reform. It argues that the specific circumstances of working-class Jewish girls in the early twentieth century enabled her to develop a comprehensive view of both industrial organisation and social work. Her approach was submerged as social work and trade unionism diverged along fault lines of gender, but continues to raise issues of relevance today.     

Women’s equality in Northern Ireland’s transition: intersectionality in theory and place

Women are invisible in mainstream analyses of the Northern Irish conflict. The prodigious literature is uninformed by gender analysis. These absences have discursive and material implications for tackling women’s inequality in a society in transition from armed conflict. Feminist intersectional theory counters and complicates essentialist constructions of identity. It aids understanding of the Northern Irish context by bringing into view issues of gender, sect and class. The tentative intersectional theoretical framework developed in this article is tested in an empirical study of women’s poverty. This supports the argument that intersectional analysis is required if the policy approach to women’s equality in Northern Ireland is to benefit the most marginalised women and thereby improve the prospects of building a more stable and peaceable society.     

Women,the other academics

In Britain, women academics occupy an elite position and therefore have not excited much feminist sympathy. Yet when compared to their male counterparts such women are clearly disadvantaged. This paper analyses three persistent problems British women academics typically encounter. The first involves the coordination, over time, of demands of two ‘greedy institutions’: home and work. The second is the management of colleague relations while occupying token status in a department. The third is the task of understanding and confronting biases reflecting male dominance in what is considered acceptable professional knowledge and practice. What links all three is the marginality, the ‘otherness’ of women academics. Their vulnerability is high and their political potential low; yet by advancing feminist scholarship they can turn their talents to good use.