In Ireland and its diaspora, women’s groups and networks, whether formal or informal, were important conduits for support, survival and social change. A detailed examination of Irish female networks can serve as an alternative reading of the common assertion that Irish women were not politically active for much of the twentieth century. Largely shut out by the political establishment, many women, mostly from the middle and upper classes, carved paths as experienced and professional activists and lobbyists in smaller interest groups. This panel explores female networks in twentieth century Ireland through the lens of political and voluntary activism.

The Catholic Women’s Federation, a female Catholic action group, advocated for the rights of women within the home but was also an important social network for middle-class Catholic women in the Republic. Women were also instrumental in the organisation of support for the dependents of political prisoners throughout the twentieth century. Consideration of this work in the 1940s challenges suggestions that female activism was limited in this decade. In the Irish diaspora, a case study of Irish women’s organisations in Springfield, Massachusetts from the 1890s to the 1930s demonstrates how such groups provided support to women in their new communities. Taken together, these papers challenge the extant image of Irish women’s activism, and highlight the continued importance of female networks throughout the twentieth century.