NATIONALIST
WOMEN
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P L A N
INTRODUCTION.
i.The IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN IRELAND.
1 - THE PLACE AND THE IMAGE OF WOMAN IN CELTIC SOCIETY.
2 - LAND AS A WOMAN.
3 - IRELAND AS A WOMAN.
4- WHY THIS NOTION BECAME IMPORTANT FOR IRISH NATIONALISTS.
II. THE LADIES LAND LEAGUE AND CUMANN Na mban (= “the league of women”).
1- THE LADIES LAND LEAGUE .
2- CUMANN NA MBAN.
III. THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT INGHINIDHE NA hÉIREANN ; MAUD GONNE AND CONSTANCE MARKIEVICZ.
1- INGHINIDHE NA HÉIREANN.
2- MAUD GONNE.
3- CONSTANCE MARKIEVICZ.
CONCLUSION.
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INTRODUCTION :
When you look in a book of Irish History, you can see that women have played an important role in the events linked to nationalism. But how come women have been able to take part in the history of their country ? Who are the most prominent figures among nationalist women and what did they achieve ?
Thus, we will first study the origins of the importance of women in Ireland, then we will concentrate on two major groups of the end of the XIXth century and of the early XXth century, and finally we will focus on two great women : Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz and their movement “ Daughters of Ireland ”.
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i.The IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN IRELAND :
Before talking about nationalist women and their movements, it seems important if not necessary to talk about the reasons why women have played such an important part in Irish history and Irish nationalism more particularly, when in many other parts of the world they are nearly absent from all historical events.
1 - THE PLACE AND THE IMAGE OF WOMAN IN CELTIC SOCIETY.
In Celtic Ireland before the 12th century women enjoyed many legal rights. For example, they kept their own property in marriage, they were allowed liberal grounds for divorce (a wife could divorce her husband for fourteen reasons). It was the British conquest that put an end to most of Irish women's traditional rights. But one tradition remained : the existence of strong warrior women (whose emergence had been due to the Brehon Laws of Ireland giving women rather equitable status).
Many famous historical, mythological and legendary figures are indeed assertive women. We all have heard of Queen Boudicca, and Morgan le Fay is a well-known example coming right from the Celtic legends of the woman as a warrior, magician, druidess and priestess. Another more recent and Irish example is Granuaile, a personification of Ireland based on the real Grace O'Malley (1530-1603) who was actually a pirate. (She is said to have met Queen Elizabeth I while barefoot and dressed as an Irish chieftain.)
In the 17th century, women were then given even less independence and could only play a domesticated role. But women in Ireland have always fought alongside men.
2 - LAND AS A WOMAN.
A very ancient tradition coming from bardic times is the idea that land is a woman. Thus, for the Celts, it was to be adored, courted and won even if death was necessary. The poet was to foretell the fortunes of the land ruled by his chieftain who was attached to the land by a symbolic marriage. If the ruler was wise and good, then the poet would be inspired by the beautiful and fertile land that he would describe as a splendid woman. If the ruler was bad, then the poet would be uninspired and he would talk about the unproductive land as a cursed bride.
From this idea was derived the eternal notion of Ireland as a woman.
3 - IRELAND AS A WOMAN
This vision of Ireland as a woman has been imagined in many different ways.
Sometimes, Ireland was a mother with strong or betraying sons, depending on whether the poet was optimistic or pessimistic.
Pádraic Pearse wrote a pessimistic version of this image in his poem Mise Éire (I am Ireland) where he said "my own children who sold their mother". William Butler Yeats adapted the optimistic version, with the strong sons who willingly fight for their mother, in his 1902's drama Cathleen ní Houlihan. The play tells the story of a withered hag who appears like a beautiful young queen when young men are willing to kill and die for her in a political rebellion. And it was in fact the nationalist leader Maud Gonne who played the title role. Poets in the 17th and 18th centuries also sang of Cathleen ni Houlihan when they referred to Ireland, and those "stories" said that she would be liberated by the proper male.
This leads us to another vision of Ireland as a woman where England played the role of the invasive and predatory male.
Finally, in contrast to the weak woman waiting for her deliverer, there was also the figure of the warrior, the masterful woman, an image that really began to reappear at the end of the 19th century and which inspired Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz.
4- WHY THIS NOTION BECAME IMPORTANT FOR IRISH NATIONALISTS.
In the 19th century, at a time when women had no part to play in politics, Anglo-Saxonist theories described the Celtic temperament as feminine. This led to a general idea that as long as the Celts (the Irish) remained feminine, they would not be able to govern themselves.
The Irish response to this was to acknowledge, celebrate and explore their feminine character. And the nationalists’ answer was to accept women in their fight. That explains the revival of the idea of Ireland as a woman.
Thus the two pictures of 1914 and 1916:
Ulster 1914: Ireland as a mother deserted by her sons and who must fight alone for her liberty (nationalist propaganda).
The birth of the Irish Republic 1916: (Easter Rising) The strong sons having to fight and die for liberty when peaceful ways are ineffective.
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II. THE LADIES LAND LEAGUE AND CUMANN Na mban. (= “the league of women”).
1- THE LADIES LAND LEAGUE :
The Ladies Land League (LLL) was set up in 1881 at Michael Davitt’s invitation to run the Land War when its leaders were jailed. Headed by Parnell’s sister Anna, the Ladies Land League resisted evictions, held public meetings, distributed the newspaper United Ireland, provided temporary accomodation for evicted tenants, and tried to implement Land League Policy. It was wound up in 1882 at Anna Parnell’s insistence, as she believed it had responsibility without power. The Ladies Land League was the first time Irish women became formally involved in nationalist politics. As well as relatives of key nationalists (Anna Parnell, John O’ Leary’s sister Ellen), it included other women who were starting out on a long life of political activism, Jennie O’ Tool (later Wyse Power), Hanna Reynolds, Hannah Lynch, almost all of them from middle-class backgrounds. Davitt claimed later than the Ladies Land League were “ honester and more sincere than the men ”.
2- CUMANN NA MBAN (=the “league of women”).
It’s the women’s auxiliary corps to the Irish Volunteers, set up in 1914. Members were mainly white-collar workers, artists, professional women, or women supported by relatives, but also included a significant proportion of working-class women. Although an independent organization, its executive was subordinate to that of the Volunteers. Cumann na mBan membership included many feminists who angrily rejected Sheehy Skeffington’s evaluation of their organization. But this early acceptance of a subordinate role helps to explain why women, despite the tireless dedication and radicalism which characterized Cumann na mBan, were to be so effectively marginalized in politics after independence. The radicalism of Cumann na mBan came into evidence when the vast majority of members voted to stay with the Irish Volunteers after the Volunteer split in 1914. The corps played an active, though non-combatant role in the rising of 1916, in signals and first aid.
From 1916 to 1918 Cumann na mBan was largely in charge of fomenting the cult of the dead leaders through commemorative events. They also raised money for prisoners, canvassed for the 1918 elections and opposed conscription. During the Anglo-Irish War they hid arms and other supplies, provided safe houses, helped run Dáil courts and local authorities, and produced the nationalist newspaper the Irish Bulletin. Most members opposed the Anglo-Irish treaty. The rump who supported it called itself Cumann na Saoirse and included Ladies’ Land League veteran and Free State champion of women’s rights Jenny Wyse Power. At least 400 Cumann na mBan members were imprisoned during the Civil War. In 1930-32, it was associated with a “ buy Irish ” campaign and was often attacked, as was the Fianna Fáil party it helped to elect.
Cumann na mBan continued to be active, mainly on the republican left, but was affected by splits in the I.R.A. as well as within its own organization.
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III. THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT INGHINIDHE NA hÉIREANN ; MAUD GONNE AND CONSTANCE MARKIEVICZ :
1- Inghinidhe na hÉireann
The revolutionary women's society Daughters of Erin was founded on Easter Sunday 1900 by Maud Gonne, in an attempt to combine cultural, nationalist, feminist and philanthropic actions when all the nationalist organisations refused to have women as members.
(The movement grew out of the Patriotic Children's Treat Committee that had been created because of the Phoenix Park Treat for Children during Queen Victoria's visit the same year.)
The movement created its monthly newspaper Bean na hÉireann (Women of Erin) in February 1908.
They promoted Irish manufactured goods, opposed recruitment for the British army and supported women's suffrage and national independence, which declared open rebellion and demanded that the people should be awakened, educated and trained. From then on, feminist and nationalist organizations were associated against the same enemy: british imperialism.
After 1914, Cumann na mBan became the major movement for nationalist women even if it did not really replace the Daughters of Erin.
2- Maud Gonne :
Maud Gonne, at a time when women had no political role to play, fought for women's rights. She wanted to have a part in History and succeeded, combining feminist ant nationalist causes. She is now remembered as Ireland's Joan of Arc.
a) The beginning of the fight for nationalism.
Maud Gonne was born on December 20, 1865, in England. Her father was a wealthy colonel in the British army but he was of Irish origin. Her mother, who was English, died in 1871, and Maud was sent to France where she was educated. In 1882, she moved in Dublin with her father. When he died in 1886, he left her financially independant. One year later she went back to France for health reasons and met a French journalist, Lucien Millevoye, with whom she had two children: George (1890-1891) and Iseult (1894-1954). They decided to work together for Irish and French nationalist causes. Their relationship stopped in the late 1890s.
Maud was introduced to Fenianism by John O'Leary (a Fenian and veteran of the 1848 Young Irelander uprising). Irish politician Tim Harrington of the National League thought she could be an advantage to the nationalist movement. He sent her to Donegal, where Gonne organized protests against the mass evictions that were taking place there. She had to leave to France to avoid being arrested.
b) Yeat's Cathleen ní Houlihan.
In 1889 she was introduced to the poet William Butler Yeats. Largely due to Maud's influence, Yeats became involved with Irish nationalism, and joined later the Irish Republican Brotherhood. (Yeats would later refer to his meeting with Gonne, saying , "all the trouble of my life began" then.)
In 1891 Maud Gonne helped Yeats found the National Literary Society of London, the same year she refused his first marriage proposal; Yeats later proposed to her several times (and even proposed to Iseult, also unsuccessfully). Returning to Paris (in the 1890s), Maud published a nationalist newsletter called "L'Irlande Libre." She worked tirelessly to raise funds for the movement, and traveled to the US, Scotland, and England.
The name of Maud Gonne quickly became well known among Irish nationalists. She co-founded the Transvaal Committee, supporting the Afrikaners in the Boer War, and on Easter Sunday 1900 she co-founded Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Erin), a revolutionary women's society. Later wrote many political and feminist articles for Bean na hÉireann (Women of Erin). And in 1902 she played the title role in Yeat's play Cathleen ní Houlihan (a play he had written for her and which had a tremendous effect on the young men who first saw it).
c) After 1916.
In 1900 she met Major John MacBride (who had been second in command of the Irish Brigade that fought for the Afrikaner side in the Boer War) and she married him in 1903. They divorced soon after the birth of their son Seán. MacBride moved to Dublin while Maud remained in Paris to keep custody of her son. In 1910 she helped the Inghinidhe organize a scheme for feeding the poor children of Dublin. She also worked with the Red Cross in France during WWI. She returned to Ireland in 1917, just after the Easter Rising of 1916 and the execution of its leaders, including John MacBride.
In 1918 she was jailed at Holloway Jail for six months (along with Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Constance Markievicz and others) by the British for her part in the anti-conscription movement. This was part of the fake "German Plot" used by the British to discredit the Irish anti-conscription movement. After she was released, she worked for the White Cross to help Irish victims during the War of Independence.
When Ireland's Civil War came, Maud opposed the Anglo-Irish treaty. She co-founded the Women's Prisoners Defense League with Charlotte Depard to help Republican prisoners and their families. In 1923, she was jailed again, but by the Irish Free State government, without charge. Gonne and 91 other women immediately went on hunger strike and she was released after 20 days. For the rest of her life she continued to support the Republican cause and was active in the Women's Prisoners Defense League (which mobilized again in defense of Republican prisoners in 1935).
In 1938, she published her biography "A Servant of the Queen". She died on April 27, 1953, but her influence on Ireland and the world continued after her death through her son, Seán MacBride. (As a young man, Seán fought on the Republican side in the Civil War and later carried on his mother's crusade for the fair treatment of political prisoners, not just in Ireland, but all over the world. Seán was one of the founders of Amnesty International. In 1974, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.) (Maud Gonne MacBride is buried in the Republican plot in Dublin's famous Glasnevin Cemetery.)
Fenianism: revolutionary movement that originated in the greatly expanding Irish immigrant community of the USA following the collapse of the repeal and Young Ireland movements of the 1840s and the discrediting of parliamentary agitation by the collapse of independent opposition.
3 - Constance Markievicz (1868 - 1927) - A Freedom Fighter :
Constance Markievicz was born among the privileged Anglo-Irish but dedicated her life to ending British government in Ireland. Many people from her class were at this time interested in cherishing the Irish language and culture but only few combined armed rebellion against British government with these nationalistic cultural goals. And even fewer fought to improve the status of workers and women, in the way that Markievicz did. Markievicz’s concept of the characteristics of Ireland were partly shaped by contradictions. Compared to Britain, Ireland was small and materially poor, but on the other hand spiritually rich and equal.
Before the Easter Rising in 1916, the guiding line in the politics of Markievicz was through passive resistance and cultural nationalism to create wide support for a violent rebellion by which the connection to Great Britain would be broken and a republic of Ireland founded. The defeat in the Easter Rising was a victory in the view of Markievicz because it fulfilled her wish : it changed people’s opinion and made them resist the British government. When that goal had been reached and when the republican shadow government, Dáil Eireann had been formed, she worked as a minister in it. Her aim was an independent republic of Ireland, precisely the worker’s republic that James Connolly had worked for a co-operative nation. She built the image of the future republic on the basis of an agrarian ideal. In the future, land would be given to both landless men and women ; the ideal was a patriot family living in the country and raising a lively and healthy generation with the products of the land.
Quoting the Democratic Programme that the shadow parliament promulgated in 1919, Markievicz emphasized cooperation as a true characteristic of the republic : co-operation was the only sensible way and the only possible alternative to the former economic policy that was so alien to the Irish mind. She thought that accepting the Free State spelt not only political defeat but did a great deal of harm to the economic structure, because it meant the rejection of the idea of co-operation which was characteristic of the Irish and which distinguished the Irish from the British way of thinking.
When the civil war broke out, she considered it her duty to join battle alongside the troops of the republicans rebelling against the Free State for she had sworn allegiance to the republic. The war and defeat in the election were a bitter disappointment for her.
Markievicz then worked to improve women’s situation through movements which at that time strove for political independence. Among women’s organizations, Markievicz ideas were best fulfilled first in the radical Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in later Cumann na mBan which became in practice a part of the IRA after the Easter Rising. The improvement of the conditions of working women and mothers was close to Markievicz’s heart. She always preserved the habit, familiar to her since her childhood, of holding out a helping hand to poor families.
As a minister, Markievicz tried to increase women’s influence by appointing them arbitrators in her own ministry and giving them assignments that she thought would suit them because of their gender, like taking care of child abuse cases. She hoped for woman candidates in the elections and tried to carry through the initiatives of giving them land. Although Markievicz considered men’s attitudes, and even the principles of the Catholic Church which maintained the inequality between genders, to be some of the reasons for women’s poor situation at that time, she found women’s passivity to be the biggest reason. To Markievicz, wrong ideals of feminity were those that defined a woman only as a housewife and a mother and shut her out of politics. In the education of women and girls she was not inspired by the role of a domestic or a nurse : because the women had taken part in battles they were entitled to get the franchise and a place among the decision-makers just as she herself was entitled to be a minister. In her way of dressing and acting, Markievicz liked to emphasize the masculine, even aggressive side of woman. By emphasizing women’s qualifications and possibilities, Markievicz was also justifying her own actions, because it was relatively rare for a woman to be active in politics at that time. By educating the children of Irish mothers, a generation could be created with the help of which the battle could be started. Like Patrick Pearse and the women of Inghinide na hEireann, Markievicz paid attention to the education of rising generation.
Constance Markievicz was a successful politician. She was also the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons, but as a minister in the shadow government she was not, however, among the most important or the most appreciated. Her programme was too radical and her aim, a republic that would cover the whole island of Ireland did not come true. To her contemporaries and to succeeding generations her goals were often left in the shadow by her colourful actions and personality.
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CONCLUSION :
Thus, women have played an important part in Irish History and Irish nationalism thanks to the Celtic traditions still existing in Ireland.
It’s only at the end of the XIXth century that women have again been able to fight for their identity alongside men.
This revival began with the Ladies Land League and went on with the Inghinidhe na hÉireann thanks to Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz who set up the association between feminist and nationalist movements. Their actions were followed in The League of Women but of course these movements are not the only ones and many women are still active today. The most stricking example is Mary Robinson, head of state between 1990 and 1997.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY :
- Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland.
(Edited by R.F. Foster Oxford University Press 1989).
‚ - Oxford Companion to Irish History.
(OUP 1998)
ƒ - Histoire et Civilisation de l’Irlande.
(Catherine Maignant Nathan Université 128 - 1996).
„ - Dictionnary of Celtic Mythology.
(James Mac Killop OUP 1998).
… - Le Cycle du Graal.
(Jean Markale - 1994).
† - Web sites :
the wild geese. com/pages/gonne.html
www.rootsweb.com/fianna/history/east1916.html
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