Women of the Irish Citizen Army: an assessment of their role and recognition during and after the revolutionary period

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to assess the role of, and recognition given to, the women of the Irish Citizen Army during and after the revolutionary period 1916-1923. It examines and evaluates the factors which radicalised and politicised the rank-and-file female members of the Citizen Army. The connection of the rank-and-file women of the Citizen Army to other contemporary social, cultural, and political movements is explored. The part played by the lesser-known Citizen Army women during the revolutionary period is assessed. This thesis investigates what the Citizen Army women did with their lives in post-revolutionary Ireland and what factors influenced their continued activism. The State’s commemoration of the Citizen Army women, following the revolutionary period, is examined at significant commemorative milestone events, to gauge the level of official recognition. This thesis argues that this group of women, and their role, was neither recognised nor commemorated, officially, by the State, and, therefore, it examines how some rank-and-file women of the Citizen Army, as veterans, actively sought, through their own efforts, to preserve the memory of the revolutionary period, their comrades and the events in which they participated.