Tracing the Contours of the History of Higher Education for Women in Ireland: Competing Discourses and Dominant Themes

Women in Ireland, like women across Western societies more broadly, were excluded from attending university until the late nineteenth century, their eventual entry frequently accompanied by sophisticated control frameworks constructed in order to minimise their impact and safeguard the male, middle-class hegemony. This paper traces the dominant themes and competing discourses which shaped the debate surrounding the opening of university education to women in Ireland, mapping the evolution of this process according to three discreet yet inter-related phases: Accommodation vs. Transformation; Special Treatment vs. Equal Treatment; and Access without Equality.