22.1: The Early Twentieth Century: Women as Second-Class Citizens
In this
topic, you will learn about:
The vote Education Employment The struggle for Irish independence
Getting the vote
In 1900, women were legally inferior to men. They could not vote, their rights to property and education were limited and discrimination in the workplace was entirely legal. Women across the world saw getting the vote as the key to advancing women’s rights in other areas. The campaign for voting rights was called suffrage and the women who campaigned were called suffragettes.
In 1908, Hanna Sheehy- Skeffi ngton founded the Irish Women’s Franchise League (IWFL). It campaigned for votes for women by copying the tactics of the suffragettes in Britain: parades, attacks on property and hunger strikes in prison.
Education
While the numbers of girls attending school had increased in the 1800s, thanks largely to the efforts of Catholic religious orders, it was only in 1908 that all universities in Ireland were opened to women. In the years afterwards, about 10% of university students were women, but only those from wealthy and middle-class backgrounds.
Alice Oldham spearheaded the campaign for the admission of female students to Trinity College, which was fi nally achieved in 1904. There is now a student prize in her name.
Headlines report the actions of Irish suffragettes The Irish Citizen front page
