Violence against women in the Irish Civil War, 1922–3: gender-based harm in global perspective

Abstract

Since the 1990s, in the wake of the wars and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, violence against women in wartime has become a matter of international concern. This article, on gender-based violence (G.B.V.) during the Irish Civil War, draws on research from scholars and activists around the globe, and newly accessible archival sources, to highlight the relatively humane treatment of women in Ireland – even during the bitter final stages of the Irish Revolution, c.1912–23. Records of the Irish Free State's Compensation (Personal Injuries) Committee show that women suffered some serious and traumatising interpersonal violence during 1922–3 – often on account of their gender (as guardians of the domestic space). Women's interactions with the Civil War were thus distinctive from men's because of the prevalence in Ireland of forms of aggression and intimidation, including crimes against property, which transgressed public/private boundaries. However, I argue that it did not serve the strategy nor ideology of either warring side to denigrate women en masse. The genocidal aims underlying conflict-related G.B.V. elsewhere in the world were absent in Ireland, where gendered power structures, shored up by Catholic authority, remained largely unshaken by the revolution – despite the great efforts of many radical females. Revolutionary Ireland was not a safe place for many Irishwomen (nor indeed for some men); however, for pro- and anti-Treaty forces, maintaining propriety militated against the need for sexual violence as warfare.

From ‘Victim’ to ‘Survivor’: Deconstructing the Pervasive Notion of Victimhood in Discourses Around Programmes Dealing With Gender-Based Violence

“…GBV in South Africa has reached extreme and crisis proportions (Clark, 2020;Yesufu, 2022). It continues to make news headlines in South Africa despite the government's efforts to curb it.…”

‘Our Darkest Hour’: Women and Structural Violence under Ireland’s 8th Amendment

“…The resulting 'widespread, endemic, and profound' harms, which include 'social marginalization, political exclusion, and economic exploitation', were particularly gendered (Gallen, 2020: 41). Research on violence and gender in Irish history and culture has expanded recently, shedding light on important topics such as sexual assault in the Irish Revolution, the abuse inflicted on children in religious homes and schools, and gendered institutional violence, most notably demonstrated by Magdalen laundries and mother-and-baby homes (Connolly, 2021;Fischer, 2016;Garrett, 2017;G. Clark, 2020;McAuliffe, 2020;S.…”

“…Clark, 2021). Scholars such as Gemma Clark have urged us to examine not only significant acts of political violence in Ireland's past and present but also the 'everyday violence' that is still often overlooked (G. Clark, 2020). Clark's definition of 'everyday violence', which she applies to the Irish Civil War, however, is limited to physical acts.…”

Sexual assault and fatal violence against women during the Irish War of Independence, 1919–1921: Kate Maher’s murder in context

“…Recent work has focused predominantly on testimonies from those who survived the ordeals of crimes of a sexual nature, but Maher did not live to recount her story ( Byrne 2021 ; Clark 2020 ; Connolly 2021 ; Connolly 2020 ; Earner-Byrne 2015 ). This article focuses on the medical evidence in fatal cases of women who were not politically active during the War of Independence.…”

“… Clark (2020) , using Compensation (Personal Injury) Committee records, has argued that while some sexual violence was perpetrated, there is little to no evidence to support its tactical use during the Irish civil war of 1922–1993. This article agrees and argues that the same holds good during the War of Independence and during the overtly ethnic violence experienced in Northern Ireland between 1920 and 1923.…”