ABSTRACT
Since the Treaty, women have assumed new responsibilities and roles, some of which have already been mentioned. These have differed in the two parts of Ireland. In a peaceful environment there have been cultural reasons for limiting women’s entry into the workplace, and in disturbed areas there have been forces which have involved them all either as victims, spectators or participants. South of the border, a principal contributor to the delineation of a woman’s approved area of overt activity made its first appearance in 1929, when the Free State government passed a censorship law which gave a Censorship of Publications Board powers to decide what citizens should be allowed to read. Immediately it could be seen that, though maintenance of Roman Catholic beliefs and standards was the justification given, the banning of books was actually about the role of women in a society which set great store by celibacy. Foreign observers were surprised to see that lists of banned books were not modelled on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the official Roman Catholic catalogue of prohibited literature which was eventually abolished in 1966. Far from it; the new clerical state could afford to allow outspoken Protestant publications to appear on the bookshelves. The challenge of sex was another matter.
