Constitutionally codified, the myth of the maternal in the national imaginary

Abstract

This thesis will address Article 41.2 of the Constitution to examine how it affected Irish women for the succeeding eighty years. It will draw from De Valera’s ideology of nation building in 1937, which situated women in the private realm of the home. It will examine the special position afforded to the Catholic Church that wedded the function of women to a biological one of purity and sacrifice. Analysing a longitudinal selection of short stories from four different authors, their identifiable set of characteristics will convey a complete treatment of a subject. These subjects seek to question the symbolisation of women by an autocracy that enshrined their domestic position constitutionally. The analyses will employ the lens of literary critic and philosopher Julia Kristeva to appraise the role of motherhood and support a better understanding of their lived experience. Irish women and girls historically carried a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities, that left them discriminated against at home and in the workplace. Her philosophy of abjection responds to the way the selected authors narrated their female marginalisation, objectification and latterly racism, which features in the more contemporary texts. This aligns with her theory that posits females as subjects-in-process who can actively advance their social progress. The final topic concerns the recent Citizen’s Assembly on gender equality exampling such progress. Chaired by Dr Catherine Day, the findings concluded the need for a referendum to remove or reword Article 41.2 from the Constitution and replace it with non-gender specific language, that simultaneously includes protection of non-marital families.