MIGRATION AND GENDER - IRISH WOMEN IN LEICESTER

Irish women have emigrated in greater numbers than Irish men in most d ecades since records began. In the nineteenth century they were numeri cally dominant in the flow to the United States, and in the twentieth century they have usually been the majority in the flow to Britain. Ye t Irish women have largely been absent from the vast literature on Iri sh emigration which, like much traditional social science writing, has been 'gender blind'. Only in recent years have the specific experienc es of the Irish emigrant women started to be explored but much remains to be done, especially with regard to Irish women in Britain. This ar ticle contributes to such an exploration by reporting the findings fro m in-depth interviews with 50 Irish-born women living in Leicester. Th e interviews - and the account of the research given in the article - follow a 'life-history' approach, collecting information on pre-emigra tion background, the migration decision, patterns of marriage, fertili ty, employment, religious practice and social life. Special attention is given to an analysis of 'cultural persistence' or 'Irishness' among st the women interviewed, and to their views on certain 'controversial issues' such as divorce, abortion and the role of women in society. D espite their 'invisibility' as immigrants many respondents retained di stinctively Irish cultural characteristics, especially those who were married to Irish men and who had been in England a long time and hence belonged to an older, more 'conservative' generation.