colonial predecessor.í^2 Coulter does concede that religion offered a
communal bond against colonial aggression but she does not draw
attention to how restrictive legislation regarding Irish women also
affects the lives of Irish men. For Coulter, the latter became the new
enemy in the form of Fianna Fail from which women involved in
politics who fought for Independence were eventually ostracized. She
refers to: ëFianna Fail, a patriarchal organization bearing little
resemblance to the broad-based nationalist movement, with all its
political, social and cultural diversity, that had brought women into
public life.í^3 According to Coulter, the Irish Free State excluded the
liberal values that motivated it in the first place. As a Southern Irish
Protestant, Coulter voices concerns comparable with many Irish
Catholic women from both the North and South. Evidence of this is
found in Smythís compilation of a special issue of Womenís Studies
International Forum, entitled ëFeminism in Irelandí (1988) which
notes how:
Pulpits, right across the country, serve as powerful political platforms, used to
bolster a narrow and rigid ideology concerning women: compulsory mother-
hood, guilt ridden sexuality, opposition to birth control, self-sacrifice, and
economic dependence.^4While acknowledging the limitations of legislation within the
Republic with regard to Irish women, this does not mean we can
forget the ways in which nationalism connects with a feminist drive
towards a more egalitarian and democratic politics. The national
question did provide an opportunity in the North for women including
Bernadette Devlin/McAliskey to become involved in politics and there
is a point where feminist and post-colonial nationalist endeavours
meet. By way of untangling the assumptions implicit in the discussion
of woman and nation, feminism and nationalism, it is important to ask
how far national identity has always been constraining for all (Irish)
2 Carol Coulter, ëIntroductioní, The Hidden Tradition (Cork: University Press,
1993), p.23.
3 Ibid., p.25.
4 Smyth, ed., ëFeminism in Irelandí & ëEditorial ìWomenís Worldsî and the
Worlds of Irish Womení, Womenís Studies International Forum, Vol.11, No.4
(1988), p.318.