University of Notre Dame
Browse
BurkeKR122016D.pdf (777.91 kB)

Gender and the Politics of the Irish Free State, 1922-1937

Download (777.91 kB)
thesis
posted on 2016-12-02, 00:00 authored by Keelin Rosaleen Burke

This dissertation explores the ways in which gender influenced the construction and stability of the newly created Irish Free State, how national identity and citizenship were understood in gendered terms in those years, and how these gendered constructions of civic life affected Irish women and men. In the wider context of a post-war Europe, the Free State wrestled with issues of national identity and citizenship, working to distance itself from its past as a former part of the United Kingdom and to present an image to the world of a potentially strong sovereign state.

Working from intersection of democracy, religion, and gender, this dissertation considers the history of the formative years of the Free State, from 1922-1937. By studying the passage of laws that impacted men and women differently, I argue that constructions of gender and the family, grounded in a Catholic moral tradition, were central to the creation and stability of Ireland. Tracing the history of legislation focused on women and the family, I argue gender shaped the Free State’s sense of national identity, created new qualifications for citizenship, and effected political participation. Through extensive archival research in public and private political, religious, and popular documents, I examine the construction of gendered citizenship. Moreover, I demonstrate the impact of gender on the formation of a socially conservative retrenchment from the revolutionary principles of the 1916 Easter Rising and the War of Independence.

The creation of gendered citizenship in the wake of revolutionary potential not only illuminates an Irish story, but speaks to the wider European context of state-formation, the legacy of successor states, counter-revolutions, and sovereignty in the twentieth century. The constructions of gender that precipitated this retrenchment in Ireland undermined the social contract inherent in the democratic tradition, and effectively created two classes of citizens. This research contributes to the history of women and gender, illuminating the record of political agency in a formative era of Irish history, and contemplates the implications of gender inequality in twentieth-century Europe.

History

Date Modified

2017-06-05

Defense Date

2016-11-18

Research Director(s)

James Smyth

Degree

  • Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Level

  • Doctoral Dissertation

Language

  • English

Program Name

  • History

Usage metrics

    Dissertations

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC