ABSTRACT
This chapter examines changing gender role attitudes in Ireland, with particular reference to the implications of such attitudes for the role and status of women. Ireland was very much a Catholic country in 1986, with the vast majority of the population identifying themselves as Catholics. Religiosity was measured by a factor containing several items including religious belief, the importance of prayer to the individual, the importance of religion to the individual and frequency of church attendance. Religious intolerance and discrimination against itinerants/travellers were seen as even less immoral than discrimination against women, indicating that religious minorities and itinerants are seen as worthy of less respect than women and racial minorities. The sexual revolution, the development of effective contraception, the growth of the women's and gay rights movements, all these historical shifts have left the church stranded with an archaic psychology of sexuality.
