Winning the Vote for Women
The Irish Citizen newspaper and the suffrage movement in Ireland
Louise Ryan
'Ryan successfully demonstrates that the Irish suffrage movement was indeed a complicated campaign that incorporated men and women of differing political and social backgrounds as it sought to create roles for women in public life, through the vote and in other areas such as work, the law, social reform, and politics ... Nestled within the book is a selection of primary excerpts that reveal how suffragists discussed problems that are still part of Irish society in the early twentieth-first [sic] century. Such analysis is complemented by a rich array of secondary literature surrounding the topics ... Ryan presents a sophisticated feminist analysis drawing on a range of arguments and philosophical insights inspired by diverse writers and theorists, which ultimately supports her assertion that "Irish suffragists illustrate that Irish women were not just active agents in our history but that they offered a different understanding of that history"' Padraig Lawlor, H-REVIEW [H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online] (February 2020).
'This updated and revised edition ... is appropriately timed. The book is a fascinating read of the Irish suffrage movement and how it was represented in the pages of the suffrage newspaper, the Irish Citizen from 1912 to 1919. Ryan expands on the recent achievements of Irish women particularly, the increase in women's paid work...Ryan has considerably expanded her bibliography since the first edition of the publication, to include the research which has taken place on the Irish suffrage movement in recent years. This updated version has resulted in a more valuable and informative study of the 'Irish Citizen' newspaper and its relationship with the Irish Suffrage movement ... This book divulges the multi-faceted and evolutionary nature of the Irish suffrage movement and situates the movement as a feminist campaign, which was concerned not merely with the vote for the inclusion of women in every aspect of public life. Ryan's exploration of the Irish suffrage movement through the pages of the Irish Citizen, offers a unique insight onto the wider campaign of Irish social and political reform. This book significantly adds to our knowledge and understanding of the complex Irish suffrage movement and contributes greatly to the field of Irish women's history.', Journal of the Women's History Association of Ireland (September 2019).
‘As Ryan demonstrates, the [Irish Citizen] paper's importance lies in its dismantling of the myth that Irish women have been secondary characters in the story of their own lives. In light of recent events in Ireland, this reissue could hardly be more timely', Tess Davidson, TLS (July 2018).
'An attractive volume which includes photographs of Irish suffragists and reproductions of pages from the Irish Citizen [...] the great benefit of Ryan's work, however, is the emphasis it gives the multiplicity of voices and diverse perspectives contained within the newspaper [...] This new edition will introduce the Irish Citizen and the suffrage movement to a new generation', Fionnuala Walsh, Irish Literary Supplement (Spring 2019).
'Ryan has done an excellent job ... providing a sense of the narratives and personalities that made the paper such an active and important part of the Irish public sphere in that time ... Chapters on the vote, morality, war versus pacifism, class and Irish politics, each cogently and vibrantly introduced by Ryan, significantly broaden our understanding of the Irish suffragist movement in this period', Brian Ward, Irish Studies Review (Mar. 2019).
'The history of Irish suffragism and the exceptionally interesting women who participated in this very long drawn-out struggle for equality has been largely overlooked by historians. Winning the vote for women ... is a wonderfully insightful interrogation of the movement through its own publication', Ireland's Genealogical Gazette (March 2018).
