The National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, is celebrating International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8 2020 with a special talk about women’s magazines in Ireland in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Dr Catriona Clear, lecturer at the National University of Ireland Galway, will deliver the talk entitled ‘No Regrets for the Days that are Gone’ at 3pm on Sunday, 8 March. Based on her book about the letters and problems written to Woman’s Life and Woman’s Way in the 1950s and ‘60s, the talk will examine these magazines in the wider social and historical context of the time.
Dr Clear provides a unique insight into one of the few forums for female expression in Ireland during a time of changing societal expectations on gender roles. This era saw more Irish women than ever before participating in paid work, trade unions and voluntary organizations, but women were also still hugely underrepresented in politics and public life.
At the same time, women who came of age from the late 1950s onwards, experienced a freedom which their mothers and aunts - married or single, in the workplace or the home - had never known.
Problem pages and letters printed in Irish-produced magazines during this era enabled women from all walks of life to express their opinions and seek guidance on the social changes they saw happening around them.
No Regrets for the Days that are Gone takes place at 3pm on Sunday March 8. Admission is free but booking is required. Telephone (094 ) 90 31751 or email [email protected]. The talk is delivered in association with the Museum’s current exhibition Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification.
Finding Voice, Creating Choice
The Museum is also hosting an open day event on the eve of International Women’s Day on Saturday, 7 March. ‘Finding Voice, Creating Choice’ aims to bring women of all nationalities together for a day of discussion on personal transformation, poetry, music, health and wellbeing. The event, from 12noon to 4pm, offers an opportunity for women to share their life experiences and learn from each other. Admission to this event is free with no booking required.
For further event details, visit www.museum.ie
