Researchers at UCC want to hear from women in Cork, Kerry and Limerick who were in paid work between 1936 and 1960.
The Women's Oral History Project is particularly anxious to interview women who worked in domestic service, shop work, factory work, nursing or who engaged in any kind of paid work while married. The researchers would also like to hear from women who were involved in trade unions or other work-based organisations during the period. The plan is to create an archive, focusing on women's perspectives during an era when scant attention was paid to their working lives.
The researchers believe that women who worked at any stage between 1936 and 1960 have a wealth of information and their stories need to be told so that present and future generations will have a deeper understanding of what life was like for Irish women at that time. "At present, there is very little information available about women's work and the organisers of the study are anxious to fill in the gaps about the contribution of women during this period, and in particular during the 1940s," Ms Marian Elders, one of the project organisers, said.
Women who are willing to recount their work experiences are invited to contact Ms Elders or Ms Clodagh O'Driscoll at 021-4904261 to arrange for researchers to visit them and record their stories. They may also write to the department of applied social studies at UCC.