Irish Housewives: everyday experiences, unpaid domestic work and intergenerational women’s activism, c. 1968-1975

This article brings into conversation the everyday experiences of two Irish housewives in the late 1960s, with organisations, old and new, seeking to enhance the lives of Irish women and girls. This is done to gain a more in-depth understanding about the unpaid domestic work undertaken by housewives defined here as women ‘living in a heterosexual cohabiting relationship whose identity is defined in terms of her ultimate responsibility for keeping house and servicing the family regardless of employment status’. Amplifying the everyday experiences of two housewives and the activities of organisations advocating on their behalf uncovers new insights into the unpaid domestic labour undertaken by women and how housewives felt about their work in mid-twentieth century Ireland. It highlights how rather than calling for an end to housewifery, the principal occupation for most Irish women throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the focus was instead on how to enhance the working lives of housewives and make their work more visible and valued in Irish public life.