Academic Journal 12 - Feminine Power

We’ve discussed in class how females have often been portrayed as “weak” or subjugated in Irish literature, especially with the influence of British and Catholic patriarchal systems. However, I have noticed a surprising number of examples of very strong, even aggressive female characters in more contemporary works. Ms. O’Shea in A Star Called Henry is an excellent example of a woman who is not just independent, but downright dangerous as a soldier. Even after marriage, her activities never become “domestic;” in fact, Henry refers to an incident burning down a barracks as a night out with HER, rather than a night out with him. Trudy in When Brendan Met Trudy follows in this same iconoclastic vein; a professional thief, she brings the mousy Brendan into a world of danger and excitement he could never have expected. At the Galway Film Fleadh, I saw two films with strong Irish female leads who were not only fierce survivors but had some kind of “mystic” power, subverting the withered crone stereotype even as they skewer the weak female one. This empowerment of women can be seen in the public sphere as well; despite the Republic of Ireland’s tendency towards Catholic values, the President of Ireland has been a woman for the past twenty years (Mary Robinson 1990-1997, Mary McAleese 1997-present).
It seems to me that the Irish Republic has been quick to embrace women’s empowerment, and I suspect that their mythic tradition has something to do with this, as Ireland has a number of powerful and important female characters in their mythology, from goddess-like figures such as Macha and The Morrigan, associated with war and sovereignty, to famed queens such as Maeve who ruled as equals with their kings (I’ve read some sources that claim marrying Maeve was the only way to become king in the first place). I believe that a mythic tradition featuring powerful females has enabled the people of Ireland to move more quickly towards equality of the sexes in spite of centuries of patriarchal tradition imposed by invaders.