Maternal subjects: representations of women in Irish government health ephemera, 1970s-1980s

ABSTRACT

This article examines how a state-endorsed ideal of motherhood was promoted via health material in late twentieth century Ireland. Examining the ways in which women were portrayed and addressed in material advising on pregnancy, childbirth and neonatal care, this article discusses the representation and creation of maternal ‘subjects’ in health ephemera issued by the Irish government in the 1970s and early 1980s. An analysis of five examples of health pamphlets produced by the Department of Health and the Health Education Bureau between 1970 and 1982 determines the primacy of motherhood as a social norm in health education material. Visually, the material evolved during this period; displaying increasing informality of pose and the eventual inclusion of a father figure. However, the connexion of mother and child was retained and prioritised throughout all of the examples discussed.

When contextualised against the cultural and political circumstances of their production, it can be argued that health pamphlets articulated a state endorsement of idealised maternity for Irish women. This was engendered by a prevailing Catholic morality and the historical involvement of the Church and the Irish State. Despite developments in Ireland’s political and ideological landscape in the 1970s and 1980s – demonstrated by events surrounding women’s liberation and advances in women’s employment rights and reproductive rights – the dominant role of motherhood remained as an ideal which was presented across the spectrum of visual culture. This position was reinforced by the Irish state via contraception legislation, elements of the Irish constitution, and as will be demonstrated, by a preponderance of imagery which centred on an idealised maternal role within health material.

KEYWORDS:

• Motherhood
• health promotion
• ephemera
• Ireland
• visual culture

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr Sorcha O’Brien and Dr Chris Horrocks for their advice and feedback, and the Graduate Research Office at Kingston University, London for supporting this research.

I would like to express my appreciation to the helpful staff at the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Library, The National Archives of Ireland, and the Wellcome Library and Archives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. National Archives of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Corish (1974, October 8). Cabinet Minutes for 8 October 1974, S.19269, TAOIS/2005/7/518.

2. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Department of Health (c.1950). The First Standard of Health [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAL: 1:1.

3. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Department of Health (c.1950). Our Flying Foes [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAL: 1:4.

4. Irish Film Archive, IE. Department of Health and National Film Institute (directed by Gerard Healy) (1954). Turas Tearnaimh (Voyage to Recovery) [Film]. AA853.

5. National Archives of Ireland, IE. Department of Health, c.1951. Mother and Child Scheme [Booklet]. TAOIS/SI4997.

6. National Archives of Ireland, IE., c.1964. Health Hints for the Home [Booklet]. 2002/74.

7. At and international level, significant work which is situated at the intersection visual culture studies and health includes David Serlin’s edited volume Imagining Illness: Public Health and Visual Culture (2010); a detailed survey of health-related imagery in Europe and the United States, focusing on a visual culture analysis of health education. Other writers such as Sander L. Gilman (1988, 1995) have undertaken significant work in the visual aspects of more general images of health and illness. However, there is an absence of comparable work in an Irish context.

8. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1970). A Growing Child and Peace of Mind [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:23.

9. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973a). Preparing for Your Baby [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:30.

10. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973b) Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation. [Pamphlet]. Ir 610 p13.

11. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1977). Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:46.

12. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Health Education Bureau (1982). The Book of the Child: Pregnancy to 4 Years Old [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAR: 1:1.

13. My research has found that of 42 archived government health pamphlets surveyed in the National Library of Ireland and Trinity College Library (two of Ireland’s main legal deposit libraries) published between 1970 and 1985, 13 deal with maternal health, neonatal care and female reproduction. Following this period and into the 1990s, there was continued publication of this type of material advising about women’s reproductive health; however, in the wider context of health education material in general, women’s reproduction proportionally came into line with other health topics.

14. For example; the Health Education Bureau’s Is Your Child Talking Yet? (c.1984); A Little Lifetime: A booklet for parents whose babies have died around the time of birth (1985); The Book of the Child: Pregnancy to 4 Years Old (2^nd ed) (1985); Protect Your Child: Immunise (c.1986); and Mary Cullen and Terri Morrissey’s Women & Health: Some Current Issues (c.1985).

15. Some of which include the ‘Contraceptive Train’ demonstration of 1971 (Raidió Teilifís Éireann); establishment of the Commission for the Status of Women; removal of the Civil Service Marriage Ban in 1973; the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act in 1974; and the Health (Family Planning) Act of 1979, which allowed for restricted use of artificial contraceptives for ‘bona fida’ couples (Connolly, 2003, p. 239).

16. Wellcome Library and Archives, London, UK. Woolf (n.d.). Some Thoughts on Health Education [Paper]. SA/PAT/D/25.

17. For example, in 1973 the British Health Education Council issued a poster featuring an image of a ‘pregnant’ man with the tagline ‘Would you be more careful if it was you that got pregnant?’(Health Education Council, c.1973).

18. In practical terms, this refers to slower economic and industrial development owing to a history of economic protectionism up to the 1950s; a lack of infrastructure; and a delay in the adoption of design techniques which were being taught and practised in central Europe (King & Sisson, 2011, p. 33).

19. Hacking’s The Emergence of Probability (2006) is an investigation into the development of the concept of probability in the seventeenth century. While the emergence of this concept is not the focus of my research, Hacking’s method in this text is of relevance; a Foucauldian archaeological method of investigation is employed (Hacking, 2006, p. xii).

20. Also, relevant is Louis Althusser’s theory of ideology and the state (1984), most particularly how state apparatuses create subjects through a process of ideological recognition referred to as ‘interpellation’ (Althusser, 1984, pp. 44–49). Along with Foucault’s ideas, this allows for the consideration of health promotion ephemera as an assimilation of healthcare and ideology.

21. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are Ireland’s two main political parties, and have dominated government throughout the State’s political history (Keogh, 1994, p. 319).

22. At present (2018/2019), this article is being debated with a view to holding a referendum to repeal it (Visser, 2018).

23. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Joint Committee on Women’s Rights (1983). Third Report of The Joint Committee on Women’s Rights: Portrayals of Women in the Media, [Report]. R 117.

24. There was an overall increase in female employment throughout the 1970s – from 278,500 in 1971 to 322,500 in 1979 (OECD, 2019). However, this correlates with an overall increase in the Irish workforce at this time; proportionally, the rise reflects a relatively modest increase in female employment from 26% in 1971 to 28% in 1979 (OECD, 2019). It was not until the early 1980s that women began to become more prominent in the labour force (Bercholz & FitzGerald, 2016).

25. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Women’s Representative Committee (1978). Second Progress Report on the implementation of the Recommendations in the Report of the Commission on the Status of Women [Report]. OPIE R 135.

26. The ban on contraceptives left many couples dependant on natural family planning, or ‘the rhythm method’, which according to Mary E. Daly, was officially endorsed by the Catholic Church in 1952, though this was not widely accepted in Irish Catholic society until the late 1950s (Daly, 2014). By the 1960s and 1970s, knowledge of the rhythm method was more widespread, and clinics and information sessions were held by institutions such as the National Maternity Hospital (Daly, 2014).

27. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Irish Women’s Liberation Movement (1971). Chains or Change: The Civil Wrongs of Irishwomen [Pamphlet]. Ir 320 p 63.

28. According to Meehan, the Irish government provided financial assistance to unmarried mothers to discourage women travelling to the UK for abortions, as ‘it was hoped that they would continue with their pregnancy’ (Meehan, 2013b).

29. Riordan outlines that interestingly, early feminist groups aligned with religious and social work organisations with the aim of developing and lobbying Irish governments for legislation which was protective for unmarried mothers, rather than punitive. Their campaign employed a narrative which helped to ‘establish the victimhood of the unmarried mother’ (Riordan, 2015, pp. 129–131).

30. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Irish Women United (1976). Banshee: Journal of Irish Women United, 1 (7) [Magazine]. Ir 3991 b 23.

31. This was seen most apparently in the 1950s, around the proposed introduction of Minister for Health, Noël Browne’s ‘Mother and Child Scheme’ for the provision of free healthcare. The scheme was seen as an attempt to subtract from the authority from the Catholic Church in matters relating to the body. It caused much debate between the Church, the state and the medical profession, and ultimately resulted in the collapse of the government (Holmes, 2013, pp. 18–25; Buckley, 2016; Botha, 2016, pp. 38–41).

32. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1970). A Growing Child and Peace of Mind [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:23.

33. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973a). Preparing for Your Baby [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:30.

34. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973b) Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation. [Pamphlet]. Ir 610 p13.

35. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1977). Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:46.

36. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1970). A Growing Child and Peace of Mind [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:23.

37. For example, see Ben Bos’ logo for Ranstad (1966) and David Gentleman’s logo for British Steel (1968).

38. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973a). Preparing for Your Baby [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:30.

39. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973a). Preparing for Your Baby [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:30.

40. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973b) Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation. [Pamphlet]. Ir 610 p13.

41. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973b) Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation. [Pamphlet]. Ir 610 p13.

42. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1977). Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:46.

43. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1970). A Growing Child and Peace of Mind [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:23.

44. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973a). Preparing for Your Baby [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:30.

45. National Library of Ireland, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1973b) Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation. [Pamphlet]. Ir 610 p13.

46. Trinity College Library, Dublin, IE. Department of Health (1977). Protecting Your Baby: Immunisation [Pamphlet]. OPUB IE HEAL 1:46.

47. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Health Education Bureau (1982). The Book of the Child: Pregnancy to 4 Years Old [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAR: 1:1.

48. A copy of the original Scottish Health Education Group’s publication The Book of The Child (1980) was not accessible for in-depth analysis. An image of the booklet’s cover and a discussion of the same can be found in Dingwall, Tanaka, and Minamikata (1991).

49. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Health Education Bureau (1982). The Book of the Child: Pregnancy to 4 Years Old [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAR: 1:1.

50. Dingwall, Tanaka and Minamikata’s study analysed an earlier edition of the same Scottish Health Education Group booklet, The Book of The Child (1980). While very similar the Irish 1982 version, this edition of the booklet features a different cover image; the portrayal of a candid scene of a mother, father and child uses different individuals, and a slightly altered composition and framing. Dingwall Tanaka and Minamikata note the intimacy of the scene; a physical embrace connects the three family members, and both parents gaze at the child (Dingwall et al., 1991, p. 429). This contrasts with the 1982 version adapted for an Irish audience, in which only the mother and baby maintain eye contact.

51. No similar studies are available on the role of fathers in Ireland; however, the issues and ideas raised in Davies and King’s study are an interesting discussion point for the analysis of Irish health material.

52. Trinity College Dublin, IE. Health Education Bureau (1982). The Book of the Child: Pregnancy to 4 Years Old [Booklet]. OPUB IE HEAR: 1:1.

53. This position is similarly expressed in Article 41.1 of the Irish Constitution in which declares that ‘The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law’ (Irish Statute Book, 1937).