How is Nationalism Gendered?

According to Howes (1996), the concepts of nationalism and gender are the most influential factors in shaping identity. The central objective of this essay is to examine how the process of nation-formation within Ireland was distinctly gendered. This essay seeks to explore the subject in question by examining how the feminine is interlinked with depictions of Celtic Ireland, colonialism, the role of literary intellectuals in promoting gendered conceptualizations of nationalism, and the consequences of post-colonialism for the feminine and women.

Ireland, the colonized feminine.

England’s colonization of Ireland began in the twelfth century and extended until the Civil War in the early 1920s (Brown et al 2000, p.408). Throughout this period of colonization, Protestant England viewed the inhabitants of Catholic Ireland as superstitious and primitive idolaters (Cairns and Richards, 1988). It was not uncommon for Irish Catholics to blame their misfortunes on spirits who originated from a supernatural race, known as the Aos Sí (Sneddon, 2015). Religious and cultural differences aside, the concept of gendered nations permeated British discourse, particularly regarding ’feminine’ Ireland. Ireland was viewed as a damsel in distress who was in urgent need of a strong and rational man, in this case, Britain, to save her. (Stevens et al, 2000).

The feminine nature of the Irish people has been attributed to their Celtic heritage. According to British commentator, Ernest Renan, the Celts were ‘essentially a feminine race’. Renan’s contemporary, Matthew Arnold, further noted that ‘the Celt is particularly disposed to feel the spell of the feminine idiosyncrasy’. Renan agreed, stating that ‘no other race had conceived with more delicacy the ideal of woman, or been more fully dominated by it. It is a sort of intoxication, madness, a vertigo’ (Stevens et al 2000, p.408). Even when depictions of the Celtic land of Ireland were flattering, depicting the motherlands beauty and fertile lands, the feminine depiction of Ireland only enhanced the complex relationship Ireland had between nationhood and gender. With descriptions of an ethereal energy, the inhabitants possessing a deep connection to nature or the otherworldly beliefs, this only reinforced the narrative of Ireland as an impracticable, emotionally unstable feminine ‘other’ with an inability to govern itself and possessing dangerous revolutionary protentional (Cairns and Richards, 1988). Meaney (1991, p.10) attributes this paradox to colonial powers who will often portray their subjects as wild, unruly, passionate and in need of guidance. These are all characteristics which have been utilized to both condemn and celebrate both Irish people and women.

The culture of nationalism.

As Ireland attempted to free itself of its colonial shackles, Irish nationalism emerged throughout the nineteenth century. However, despite the negative feminine connotations associated with Ireland due to its Celtic ancestry, Irish nationalist intellectuals continued to portray Ireland as a feminine entity. Guibernau (2000) presents a theoretical framework in which the relationship between intellectuals and nationalism within nations without states operates, and their dual role. The duties of this role include providing cultural, historical, political and economic arguments to garner mass support for the nationalist movement and help permeate a subversive discourse that undermines the legitimacy of the current order of the oppressing state, in which the nation without a sovereign state operates. As a result, the romanticized notion of a feminine Ireland became embedded within the cultural narrative of Irish nationalism. Thus, it is undeniable that culture, in particular, literature, has had a significant influence in establishing the national identity of post-colonial Ireland (Kilberd, 1996).

Nationhood and gender appeared most vividly in literary cultural representations of Ireland and Irishness (Stevens et al 2000, p.410). W.B Yeats, the leader of the Literary Renaissance, also recognized as the Celtic revival in Ireland, considered Ireland to possess a feminine quality. However, Yeats’s interpretation of Ireland’s femininity was juxtaposed with the masculine Anglo-Saxon discourse that viewed the feminine Ireland as inadequate. Utilizing Irish mythology and folklore, Yeats presented Ireland’s femininity in a constructive light as the female figure has played a large role throughout Irish mythology and folklore (Kearns 2004, p.443.) Yeats presented Ireland/woman as a mystical symbol of culture which was embodied within female figures such as Cathleen Ní Houlihan. In Yeats’s one act play, Cathleen Ní Houlihan is the personification of an old and divided Ireland. The woman becomes young and beautiful once more in the conclusion of the play, ultimately promoting the notion of blood-sacrifice and encouraging people to sacrifice all personal interests for the greater good of a free and independent Ireland. It has been suggested that Yeats’s play was not only a piece of art, but a piece of propaganda in order to promote nationalist ideas (Vukčević 2013, p.3). This form of propaganda, according to Kedourie (Guibernau 2000, p.992) is the only way to truly persuade people to support the nationalist cause.

Yeats’s praise and honouring of the feminine inspired other Irish writers such as James Joyce to reexamine his virility as a writer (Stevens et al 2000, p.411). Seamus Heaney has also displayed how gender and nationality are inextricably entwined in representations of Irish culture. Describing the art of poetic composition as an ‘encounter between masculine will and intelligence’ and ‘feminine clusters of images and emotion’ in which ‘the feminine element involves the matter of Ireland’ (Cairns and Richards 1988, p.144). The control of the masculine will and intelligence overpowers the images and emotion of the feminine, suggesting that the feminine voice cannot speak for herself and must be defined by masculine standards and confined within masculine boundaries. According to Stevens et al (2000, p.411), ‘she is defined by and given a voice and indeed a form by the commentator, the viewer, the writer, the outsider’. Irish woman poet Eavan Boland summaries how Irish women became pawns in a ‘corrupt transaction between nationalism and literature which feminized the national and nationalized the feminine’. Boland concluded that a woman’s place within the poem was prescribed, ‘it was both silent and passive’ (Boland 1995, p.7).

The leader of the Celtic revival and champion of reclaiming the feminine, Yeats’s ultimately rejected the ‘sweet, insinuating feminine voice’ of Celticism, thus, perhaps symbolically favouring the masculine instead (Howes, 1996). It appeared that continuing to depict Ireland as feminine presented an inherent weakness. Like all subjects of colonialism looking to regain control of their land, those who aspire to bring about independence and sovereignty inevitably adopt a traditionally masculine role of power (Meaney 1994, p.191). As British imperialist discourse attributed frail and feeble feminine connotations to Ireland, in order to counteract the idea of Ireland being subordinate, Irish nationalists engaged in a ‘compensatory and exaggerated masculinity’ (Stevens et al 2000, p.409). For decades, the inextricable link between gender and nationalism went unchallenged. This lack of analysis has led to a distortion between the mythical and the real, at the disadvantage of the lived experiences of women (Boland 1995, p.69). As a result, complex feelings arose when male Irish nationalists were unsure if they should ‘worship or revile’ the women who took up the cause of Irish nationalism in the early twentieth century (Stevens et al 2000, p.409).

Irish women fighting for the nation.

The symbolic role of women within the nationalist movement has come to obscure their practical involvement (Kearns, 2004). Furthermore, within an Irish context, not only was the role of women in establishing Irish nationalism overlooked, the double-edge sword the women of Ireland found themselves attempting to balance has been greatly underappreciated. According to Condren, both nationalist and feminist movements are engaged in the politics of identity, however the interests of feminism are usually submerged to those of nationalism (1995, p.175). This is particularly true within the Irish context.

The appetite for women’s suffrage within Ireland grew in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Irish suffragettes were attempting to establish a convincing political agenda within a highly complex political climate. Irish suffragettes were presented with a difficult ultimatum. The right to vote activists had to choose between aligning their struggle for suffrage with the suffrage movement in Britain and claim that the right to vote should precede the Home Rule Bill. Alternatively, the Irish suffragettes could choose to ally their agenda with the cause for Irish nationalism by insisting on a clause within the Home Rule Bill for women’s right to vote. Essentially, Irish suffragettes were forced to choose between prioritizing their femininity above their nationalism or placing their nationalism before their femininity. In 1906, with women possessing a status of a non-citizen in Britain, women were not only ideologically barred from engaging in politics, but they were also prohibited by policy from physically observing a Parliament session (Donohue 2009, p.10). Although once content with receiving their right to vote from Westminster, Irish women set their sights on achieving suffrage from Dublin as nationalist ideology and sentiment began to surge in Ireland in the early twentieth century. In the end, Irish suffragettes prioritized their nationalism above their femininity. Therefore, to suggest that the fight for suffrage for Irish women was intertwined with the fight for Irish independence, is not an unreasonable claim (Donohue 2009, p.11).

The Declaration of the Irish Republic of 1916 was a pivotal moment for women in Ireland as it was the first instance of recognition by political leaders of the contributions of Irish women in society (Donohue 2009, p.19). The proclamation of the Irish Republic not only symbolically shed several hundred years of colonialism, it also signified a crucial change in the social norms surrounding the perception of a woman’s place in society. The Proclamation outlined the guarantee to civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities for all citizens (Ó Ruairc, 2018). Shortly after the signing of the declaration, the nationalist movement suffered significant losses after the Easter Rising of 1916 that saw the leaders executed. The role of women in the fight for Irish independence is largely overlooked. However, Kearns (2004) offers an account of four women who were heavily involved in the nationalist cause. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, an Irish suffragette, acted as a messenger and delivery person for the rebels during the Easter Rising became an international politician. Maud Gonne, who is most commonly known, at a great disservice to her legacy, as the unrequited love interest of W.B Yeats, was a committed nationalist who viewed Irish people as cultured and spiritual beings. Kathleen Clarke, coming from a revolutionary family, took over the management of the Irish Republican Brotherhood funds when the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed. Constance Markievicz, an Irish suffragette and nationalist, constructed the maps that were used during the Easter Rising and fought on Easter weekend as a sniper. Markievicz was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. However, the Court recommended mercy solely on the basis of her gender. There was a diverse contribution from Sheehy-Skeffington, Gonne, Clarke and Markievicz towards nationalist politics in Ireland. Furthermore, each of the women were involved with several other commitments such as peacekeeping, feminism, prisoners’ rights and workers’ rights. It was evident that the four women were committed to not only nationalism, but several other causes, including the advancement of women’s rights.

Sheehy-Skeffington brought opposition to the Celtic revival discourse. Instead of believing that when Ireland was returned to its golden era of Gaelic values, women would enjoy more rights and an equal footing to that of men, as the women in ancient Ireland enjoyed a more elevated status than that of women in Ireland in the 1920s, Sheehy-Skeffington was unimpressed with such idealistic promises. Returning to the golden era of a nation is often understood as a route back to the masculine or ‘male psychic, political and religious stability’ (Condren 1996, p.170). Sheehy-Skeffington did not trust ‘the Irish habit of living on the reputation of its ancestors, especially when one is faced with the problems of today’ (Kearns 2004, p.454).

Post-colonialism: consequences for the female and the feminine.

Irish male nationalists were undoubtedly concerned at the ‘manly’ and ‘martial’ demeanor emitted by the Irish feminist nationalists (Kilberd 1996, p.398). Eamon de Valera’s description of women as the ‘the boldest and most unmanageable revolutionaries’ accurately portrays the attitude held by male nationalists towards their female counterparts. It is therefore of little surprise that the contributions made by women in the fight for independence were soon forgotten and their rights as women were sidelined when the Irish Free State was established in 1922 (Mohr, 2006) with Eamon de Valera as President.

The 1922 Free State Constitution outlined the equal rights between men and women ‘without distinction of sex’ (Beaumount 1997, p.565) and the equal right to vote was granted to women which gave them the same political citizenship as their male counterparts. Ireland was seemingly ahead of its time, granting the equal right to vote to women in Ireland six years before Britain (Beaumount 1997, p.565). However, this advancement in women’s rights did not last long as the anxieties surrounding the need to create an image of an independent Ireland that was distinct from its previous oppressor, the British Empire, began to take hold (Hunt, 2002). In an attempt to present itself as competent post-colonial free state, it evolved that the most effective way to accomplish this was through developing a close relationship between the State and the Catholic Church. This relationship only exacerbated the already marginalized status of women. As the 1920s progressed, the Irish government began to incorporate an increasing number of Catholic principles into legislation (Rockett, 1980). Less than two decades after women’s pivotal role in the struggle for independence, the Irish Free State that they fought for began to pass legislation that would see women confined to the home (Inglis, 2005). According to Angela Martin, nationalist discourses disciple real bodies. This disciple is meditated by segregating public and private places and denoting different behaviors and expectations of different genders (Kearns 2004, p.445). The 1937 Constitution boasted Article 41.2.1, which recognizes that a woman’s life is ‘within the home’. Despite an increase in educational opportunities and economic freedom, the Irish government continued to pass damaging legislation that would see women being contained within the domestic sphere. The public service marriage bar ensured that female civil servants would legally have to resign from their position after marriage. This would therefore ensure that these women would fulfil their primary duty as a wife and home maker (Beaumont, 2006).

Despite influential women such as Sheehy-Skeffington who openly and continuously criticized de Valera’s failure to advance women’s issues and Clarke’s opposition to every socially conservative act put forward by de Valera’s government during her time as a senator (Kearns 2004, p.451), the right-wing traditionalist values of Fianna Fail in partnership with the conservative morals of the Catholic Church dominated the political landscape of Ireland after the establishment of the Irish Free State. This partnership ensured that the ‘bold’ and ‘unmanageable revolutionary’ women would not play a part in shaping the new nation and their contribution to the struggle for independence being effectively erased (Ward, 1983). Furthermore, this church and state partnership paved way for what was a dark century for Irish women. With societal demands of purity and respectability, any woman who transgressed from these norms and gave birth to a child outside of wedlock, was considered a deviant, or a ‘fallen woman’. These women were institutionalized within Church-ran Magdelene Asylums and participated in forced labour while experiencing a multitude of abuse at the hands of the priests and nuns who were responsible for the maintenance and running of the asylums (Burns, 2020). Meaney suggests (1991, p.7) that the treatment of transgressive women can be attributed to the Catholic Church and Irish States desire to control the female body. This aligns with Meaney’s argument that in post-colonial societies, the oppression of women’s sexuality is intertwined with the struggle to establish a national identity.

Conclusion.

There is a chasmic dichotomy of female and male embedded in Irish nationhood (Boland, 1995). From the ancient association of Celtic ancestry with the mystical feminine, to the erasure of Irish feminist nationalists in forming the nation they fought for, to the political and physical imprisonment of Irish women who did not fit the ideal image of an Irish woman as defined by the right-wing government and Catholic Church, the Irish nation has always been inherently gendered. With the exception of James Connolly, there was a distinct lack of awareness within nationalist writings that Irish women were not only colonized by the British Empire, but also by virtue of their gender. In order to maintain the unmanageable revolutionaries, it was necessary that women must act only as witnesses and mourners of male heroism and as guardians of the nation that will be established as a result of male sacrifice (Condren 1995, p.176). These constructions should not be dismissed as harmless or meaningless depictions of gender. It is essential that these depictions are continually analyzed and challenged in an attempt to ensure Irish women’s voices are heard ‘above and beyond the romantic cultural nationalist narrative that persists in representations of Ireland and of Irishness, representations that persist in categorizing and oppressing Irish women’ (Stevens et al 2000, p.419). Furthermore, the changing cultural and political landscape within Ireland in the last number of years, most notably the passing of the Marriage Equality and Repeal Referendum, with the weaning power and influence of the Church-State relationship, women have created the opportunity for themselves to no longer be victims of a gendered nation, or ‘the territory over which power is exercised’ (Meaney 1991, p.22) Rather, women, in exercising power, may redefine the nation and territory.

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