Thirty Years of Change Through Women's Eyes - by B O'Carroll Íde (Paperback)

About the Book

In this unique book, Irish women who stayed living on the island, who did not emigrate, describe their lives and perspectives on a dramatically changed social context from the 1990s to 2023. We hear the women's voices through O'Carroll's carefully crafted profiles based on interviews she conducted with each woman thirty years apart.

Book Synopsis

In this unique book, Irish women who stayed living on the island, who did not emigrate, describe their lives and perspectives on a dramatically changed social context from the 1990s to 2023. We hear the women's voices through O'Carroll's carefully crafted profiles based on interviews she conducted with each woman thirty years apart. Located in different places on the island, the women from various social backgrounds describe their lives and perspectives on the changes they have witnessed in their society - the rise and fall of the economy, major inward migration, unparalleled advances in legislation enabling divorce, abortion and marriage equality. O'Carroll provides an analysis of the wider social, economic and political shifts that contributed to dramatic social change including women's increased participation in the labour force, in education, in community-based organisations and in campaigns for change. Written for a general audience, the book seeks to help readers understand how women were agents of change whose lives were also shaped by social change.

Review Quotes

Íde B. O'Carroll considers transformations in the lives of Irish women interviewed in the early 1990s and again in 2023. The book beautifully captures both progress and continued challenges, effectively placing each woman's story in its cultural, political and economic context, and offers an important and needed lens into a changing society. --Joya Misra "Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Massachusetts-Amherst"

Íde B. O'Carroll provides us with fascinating insights into the extraordinary changes which have occurred for women in Ireland in the last thirty years. The diverse women featured had to struggle to find their place in a changing society. By documenting, in their own words, the journeys they took and the challenges they faced, O'Carroll's book will take its place among Ireland's most impactful feminist publications. --Mary McAuliffe "Historian, Director, Gender Studies Programme, University College Dublin."

A compelling and inspiring book which powerfully illuminates three decades of key social change for Irish women. From the voices and experiences of seven women - through interviews incisively and elegantly relayed by Íde B. O'Carroll - emerge keen insights into the significance of education and caregiving, the continuing force of violence against women, and the endurance of hope, creativity and activism. --Margaret Kelleher "Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama, University College Dublin"

Through her research and publications, and here again, Íde has consistently highlighted major themes of significance in Irish women's lives. She is one of those women whose friendship and feminist collaboration I have always valued. --Gráinne Healy "facilitator, activist, former chair National Women's Council of Ireland"