ABSTRACT
There are many ways in which formal austerity measures can be seen to have impacted the ability of women in Ireland to participate freely in the arts. But these measures are only the latest in a culture of exclusion that has been in place since before the formation of the Irish state. Just as with issues of healthcare and more general inclusivity, current issues of exclusion in the Irish arts can be seen to be that much worse because of the unaddressed problems that predated their emergence.
This chapter examines, using alternating reflexive and analytical-critical passages, the problematic cultural history and the development of several grassroots feminist activist movements within the Irish arts which work to challenge it.
