Introduction to Part Two
The National Body, Irish Feminism and Fluid Identities
There is a tension within work by female poets between holding onto
the rationale of essentialist versions of identity as a resistance against
chauvinism and imperialism, and an attempt to subvert the limits of
gendered and national identity. Irish feminists and the critical writing
of poets such as Eavan Boland problematize the possibility of
establishing a coherent feminist and national identity. This involves
acknowledging the different demands of feminism and nationalism
within Ireland.
Ailbhe Smythís essay ëThe Womenís Movement In the Republic
of Ireland 1970ñ1990í (1993) notices the radicalism and direct action
of womenís groups who fought for ëfree legal contraceptioní, ëthe
removal of legal and bureaucratic obstacles to equalityí, ëequal payí
and ëthe right of women to have a self determined sexualityí.^1 Smyth
also alludes to the limitations imposed upon women within the
Republic of Ireland as it created legislation, (with the support of the
Catholic Church), against contraception, abortion and divorce, to
undermine womenís control over their bodies and lives in general.
Smythís editorial ëìWomenís Worldísî and the World of Irish
Womení refers to a case in 1984 where in a small provincial town in
Ireland, a sixteen year old school girl and her baby died as she gave
birth in the open, before a religious shrine of the Virgin Mary.
Exploring the relation between woman and nation, the Southern
Irish critic Carol Coulter attacks Eamon de Valera for being
ëpersonally hostile to womenís equalityí arguing that ë[w]hat actually
came into being with Independence, following the Treaty, was a
highly centralised state, modelled in every significant way on its
1 Ailbhe Smyth, ed., ëThe Womenís Movement In Republic of Irelandí, Irish
Womenís Studies Reader (Dublin: Attic, 1993), p.258.