The Role of Women in Society

Mary Ann read many of the same tracts which inspired the United Irishmen, such as Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (1791). Mary Ann’s political awakening, however, was more radical, and inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Mary Ann’s close reading of Wollstonecraft led her to chide Henry Joy for the unequal United Irishwomen societies which arose in the 1790s, and she even expressed disappointment in Wollstonecraft’s decision to enter into marriage, an institution Wollstonecraft had previously excoriated.

Mary Ann wrote to Henry Joy, ‘is it not almost time for the clouds of error and prejudice to disperse and that the female parts of the Creation as well as the male should throw off the fetters with which they have been so long mentally bound and conscious of the dignity and importance of their nature rise to the situation for which they were designed’. While she would undoubtedly be pleased with the progress made, she would note that there is much work to be done in removing the visible and invisible barriers to women’s full equality.

Through events and discussions with women’s groups, the Foundation is exploring how to best support the ‘Modern Day Mary Anns’ who are continuing the fight for women’s full equality