Female Firsts: Hidden Figures: The Women of Irish Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Female Firsts: Celebrating Archaeology’s Pioneering Women on the 101st Anniversary of the 19th Amendment " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2018, among the top five hashtags in Ireland was #repealthe8th. On May 25, 2018, the amendment that largely banned all abortions was repealed. With this vote, many Irish women felt their voices were finally heard. With women's rights and activism at the forefront in Irish politics how has the role of women in Irish archaeology changed? Following a similar trajectory to women in American archaeology, those in Ireland faced similar plights. Until the building of the National Museum of Ireland in the late nineteenth century, the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) held Ireland’s archaeological and antiquarian collections. Today, these societies continue to be influential in defining Irish archaeology. Yet, it was not until 1949 that the first woman was admitted as a full member to the RIA. The RIA, today, writes that “the profession [of archaeology] is one of the most gender-equal professions in Europe”; historically that has not been true. Who and where are women in Irish archaeology? We will explain how women have been active in archaeology well before they were officially invited and the many contributions they have and continue to make in Irish archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Female Firsts: Celebrating Archaeology’s Pioneering Women on the 101st Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 30933