Irish Feminisms: Past, Present and Future is a collection of multi-disciplinary essays from leading academics and activists that interrogates the various waves of Irish feminist activism over the last one hundred years. Emanating from a conference held in 2012, this collection offers snapshots of the many feminist issues, ideas and campaigns that have invigorated, enlivened and challenged Irish society since the early twentieth century. From the first wave suffrage women who fought for an Ireland in which women were to be full and equal citizens, to the third and even fourth wave feminists who campaign for full reproductive rights, this collection provides insightful analyses, from the centre and the margins, of the various feminist battles and backlashes modern Irish society has experienced. This book is essential reading for all those interested in Irish feminist identities, histories and activism.

This book is about the future: Ireland’s future and feminism’s future, approached from a moment that has recently passed. The Celtic Tiger (circa 1995-2008) was a time of extraordinary and radical change, in which Ireland’s economic, demographic, and social structures underwent significant alteration. Conceptions of the future are powerfully prevalent in women’s cultural production in the Tiger era, where it surfaces as a form of temporality that is open to surprise, change, and the unknown. Examining a range of literary and filmic texts, Irish Feminist Futures analyzes how futurity structures representations of the feminine self in women’s cultural practice. Relationally connected and affectively open, these representations of self enable sustained engagements with questions of gender, race, sexuality, and class as they pertain to the material, social, and cultural realities of Celtic Tiger Ireland. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Irish studies, Irish feminist criticism, sociology, cultural studies, literature, women's studies, gender studies, neo-materialist and feminist theories.

This wide-ranging volume traces the development of second-wave feminism in Ireland, drawing upon a diversity of rare primary sources, including documents, photos, and publications. Connolly and O'Toole explore several themes in Irish feminist politics from the 1970s to the 1990s, including the emergence of pioneering feminist groups and organizations; reproductive rights and activism; the legal system and the state; the development of cultural projects; feminism and Northern Ireland; lesbian activism; and class and education. This book is an invaluable resource in the fields of history, sociology, politics, Irish studies, and women's studies.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence, consolidation and development of the Irish women's movement, as a social movement, in the course of the twentieth century. It seek to address several lacunae in Irish studies by illuminating the processes through which the movement and, in particular, networks of constituent organisations, came to fruition as agencies of social change. The central argument advanced is that when viewed historically, the Irish women's movement is characterised by its interconnectedness and continuity: the central tensions, themes and organising strategies of the movement connects diverse organisations and constituencies, over time and space. This book will be essential reading for those interested in Irish studies, sociology, history, women's studies, and politics.

Feminist perspectives on Irish literature

The very different histories of the North and South are reflected in their literature. While women in the Republic of Ireland have tended to write about social issuessexism, crime, unemployment, and domestic violencewomen in Northern Ireland focused on their society's historical tension and primarily nationalist and unionist politics. However, Pelan maintains that feminist ideology has provided contemporary Irish women with an alternate political stance that incorporates gender and nationality/ethnicity and allows them to move beyond the usual binaries of politics, history, and languageIrish and English. In an analysis enriched by a sophisticated but accessible engagement with contemporary feminist and gender theory, Pelan concludes that Irish women's writing, whether at the community or mainstream levelNorth or Southconsistently articulates political issues of direct relevance to the lives of Irish women today. As a result, such work retains close links with the initial impetus of the second wave of feminism as a political movement and questions the legitimacy of long-standing social, religious, and political conventions. From within the framework provided by this second wave, argues Pelan, Irish women can critique certain masculine ideologiesnationalist, unionist, imperialist, and capitalistwithout forfeiting their own sense of gender and national or ethnic identity. The book's significance lies in its placement of women's writing in the center of contemporary political discourse in Ireland and in ensuring that the writing from this periodmuch of it long out of printcontinues to exist as sociological as well as literary records. It will be of interest to a general and scholarly audience, especially those in the fields of contemporary Irish writing, feminism, and literary history.