The Great War was Europe’s first ‘total war’ which affected whole populations, male and female, and not just the men fighting in the trenches. How did Irish women respond to the war? To what extent was their response determined by the divisions in society at large - class, unionist/nationalist and Irish Volunteers/National Volunteers? In particular, how did Cumann na mBan, whose centenary also occurs this year, respond to the latter split? And to what extent was femininity used (and abused) in propaganda for and against the war?
Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, for a lively discussion on these and related matters with his panel of experts—John Borgonovo (UCC), Fionnuala Walsh (TCD), Liz Gillis (Kilmainham Jail) and Mary McAuliffe (UCD Women’s Studies).
Apologies but John Horne is unable to participate in this Hedge School and will be replaced by Fionnuala Walsh who is researching the impact of the First World War on women in Ireland.
