A woman’s place?

Challenging values in 1960s Irish women’s magazines

A Woman’s Place? was published by Manchester University Press as part of their ‘Gender in History’ series in February 2023.

This book explores representations of the domestic in Irish women’s magazines. Published in 1960s Ireland, during a period of transformation, they served as modern manuals for navigating everyday life. Traditional themes – dating, marriage, and motherhood – dominated. But editors also introduced conflicting voices to complicate the narrative. Readers were prompted to reimagine their home life, and traditional values were carefully subverted. The domestic was shown to be a negotiable concept in the coverage of such issues as the body and reproductive rights, working wives and equal pay. Dominant societal perceptions of women were also challenged through the inclusion of those who were on the margins – widows, unmarried mothers, and never-married women. This book considers the motivations of editors, the role of readers, and the influence of advertisers in shaping complex debates about women in society in 1960s Ireland.

CONTENTS

Introduction  
1. Dating to be married  
2. The new marriage manuals  
3. The modern home  
4. Sex knowledge  
5. (Un)planned pregnancy  
6. Happy families?  
7. Single women  
8. An agenda for change  
Conclusion  
Bibliography  
Index

REVIEWS

‘The book joins an emerging scholarship on popular women’s magazines while paying special attention to the Irish experience during the middle decades of the twentieth century’.

‘Meehan’s study excels as she seamlessly navigates between the magazines, the broader publishing culture, and the historical context’.

‘This layered reading of both magazine texts and historical contexts makes an important contribution to the study of popular women’s magazines in Ireland … A Woman’s Place? is a carefully researched book, filled with brilliantly analysed examples from popular women’s magazines. It will be of interest to researchers in women’s history, periodical studies, and beyond’. 

Yen-Chi Wu (2023) A woman’s place? Challenging values in 1960s Irish women’s magazines, Irish Studies Review, 31:3, 459-461, DOI: 10.1080/09670882.2023.2234687