History:There are fewer women TDs in the 30th Dáil than there were in the 29th. Noel Whelan, writing in this newspaper on July 21st, called for female candidate quotas in order to redress the gender imbalance in the Dáil.
One wonders how this slow progress to gaining equal representation in the Dáil would be viewed by suffragists and those who campaigned for Countess Markievicz to be elected in 1918; the year that Irish women over the age of 30 could cast their vote in a general election for the first time.
It is general knowledge that Countess Markievicz was the first female member of parliament elected to the British House of Commons, and that she abstained from taking her seat in accordance with Sinn Féin policy, but many readers will be surprised to learn that, proportionally, Ireland's lobby for "votes for women" was equivalent in size and energy to the British organisation.
Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens is a selection of essays written by scholars from Ireland, Britain and the United States, edited by Dr Louise Ryan and Dr Margaret Ward. This book, as the authors tell us, is the first time a collection of articles has been published on this subject. This drawing together of such a vast collection of source material in one volume is yet another milestone in the study of Irish women. As Rosemary Cullen Owens highlights in her introduction to the book, there has now been 30 years of scholarship, which began with Dr Margaret MacCurtain and Mary Cullen. In that time, the writing of women's history has moved beyond the inclusion of token women to a comprehensive look at women's involvement in all aspects and spheres of public life in Ireland. Yet, as Cullen outlines elsewhere in the book, this considerable body of knowledge is at present largely confined to the specialist field of women's history; she suggests that incorporating the suffrage and emancipation campaigns into a general history of modern Ireland could be a good start towards a more accurate representation of the past.
Although it is impossible to quantify the impact of the writing of one historian at any given time, it is clear that a body of work over a number of years can have an influence on the mindset of the people. Three decades of the writing of women's history has documented a massive contribution by women to the creation of modern Ireland - albeit away from the cabinet table.
What becomes clear from reading this book is that those fighting for the vote saw it as both a woman's right and also a duty of citizenship. For women fighting for equality of citizenship it was a natural progression from their involvement in other areas of public life, their philanthropic activities and involvement in municipal politics. This involvement would lead them to believe that women should be part of the ruling elite.
This volume shows the diversity of issues undertaken by the suffragists. It looks at the contribution of individual women but there are also chapters discussing issues such as hunger strike, described by Kevin O'Higgins as "the women's weapon". In his chapter, William Murphy illustrates how hunger strike was later adopted by other Irish protest groups, though it is rarely acknowledged that it was begun by the suffragettes. Clíona Murphy looks at humour in the fight for Irish women's suffrage and how the newspapers and novels of the day caricatured suffragettes.
Louise Ryan shows that in addition to fighting for the vote, suffragettes highlighted taboo issues and profiles the work of the group calling itself Watching the Courts, which reported on legal cases in the Irish Citizen, showing the injustices in sentencing in cases relating to young girls and women.
Caitriona Beaumont, meanwhile, in the final chapter, shows how the vote made little difference to Irish women's lives in the Free State: women did not use it to elect female candidates supporting an equality agenda nor did they use it to prevent the implementation of discriminatory legislation.
In a mere 10 years it will be the 100th anniversary of women attaining the vote, yet the issue of gender imbalance in the Dáil is still current. This book should be compulsory reading. We need the actions and commitment of those in the past to inspire us to become once again true citizens of our nation and to be reminded by history of the importance of women being equal partners in government as we move into the new millennium.
Sinéad McCoole is keeper/curator of the Jackie Clarke Library, Ballina, Co Mayo. She is currently working on her next book, Easter Widows: The Untold Story of 1916
Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens Edited by Louise Ryan and Margaret Ward Irish Academic Press, 258pp. €27.50