Underestimating Women in Post-Famine Ireland: A Microanalysis of Female Occupations in County Leitrim, 1871

Gendered language, systemic bias and a perceived lack of data on women's work have all contributed to a general downgrading of women's economic contribution in nineteenth-century rural Ireland. Using a microstudy approach, this research mines the 1871 census to investigate female occupations in Mohill, County Leitrim. By applying a new methodology for analysing the census data, the study finds that a significant number of women were engaged in income-generating, remunerative work and entrepreneurship. This, together with a repositioning of rural women's work, tests the underlying economic model and constitutes a reassessment of women's occupations, status and economic contribution in post-Famine rural Ireland. The methodology demonstrates the value of applying analytics to primary sources, while the microstudy approach highlights disparities between national and local or regional data.