Durham E-Theses Irish Women and Political Petitioning, c. 1870-1918 STEWART, CIARA,ELIZABETH How to cite: STEWART, CIARA,ELIZABETH (2021) Irish Women and Political Petitioning, c. 1870-1918, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13941/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail:
[email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Ciara Elizabeth Stewart Irish women and Political Petitioning, c. 1870-1918 Abstract Petitioning was one of the few forms of political agitations available to the disenfranchised of the nineteenth century. This thesis studies petitioning patterns in order to re-examine the political experience of Irish women in the period 1870- 1918. It addresses the development of a gendered political culture in Ireland and how petitioning allowed women to partially break the boundaries of a male dominated political sphere. Petitioning, alongside other campaign methods, allowed Irish women to become involved in the Irish public and political sphere, despite going against traditional gender and social conventions.