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    ‘Sinful Singleness’? Exploring the Discourses on Irish Single Women’s Emigration to England, 1922–1948


    Redmond, Jennifer (2008) ‘Sinful Singleness’? Exploring the Discourses on Irish Single Women’s Emigration to England, 1922–1948. Women's History Review, 17 (3). pp. 455-476. ISSN 0961-2025

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    Abstract

    In the interwar and immediate post-war years, the persistently high rates of emigration by young, single Irish women gave rise to worries over their moral and spiritual welfare. This was partly because of their assumed extreme vulnerability as women coming from rural loca- tions to the metropolises of England. It seems that the combination of their singleness and their gender was the prime reason for the concern evinced predominantly by the Roman Catholic Church, but also by lay organisations and the Irish governments. Multiple sources of danger for girls were perceived from their journey ‘across the water’ to their places of employment, from which they were in need of help and protection, if not prohibition. The majority of pronouncements on the topic were negative towards women, but no equivalent amount of concern was given to male migrants often of similar age and background and who also migrated as single persons. Thus, singleness was a gendered ‘problem’. Whilst studies of Irish female emigrants have focused on their experiences of being immigrants and their identity as white women who are in Bronwen Walter’s words ‘outsiders inside’, less attention has been paid to ways in which their single status became a marker of concern over morals and behaviour. Indeed, it is argued here that this was the particular reason why such moral- istic discourses existed. This article seeks to explore some of the complexities of the public and private voices engaged in the debates over whether single female emigration could be equated with sinful behaviour and the gendered implications of migrants’ marital status.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: Discourse; Irish Single Women; Emigration to England; 1922–1948;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > History
    Item ID: 4804
    Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/09612020801924597
    Depositing User: Jennifer Redmond
    Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2014 11:28
    Journal or Publication Title: Women's History Review
    Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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