The '''Irish Housewives Association''' (IHA) was an influential pressure group founded in 1942 to speak out about injustices and the needs of Irish women, inside and outside the home.<ref name=hil>Hilda Tweedy obituary, ''Irish Times'', 9 July 2005.</ref> The organization continued until 1992, when it dissolved itself.
==History==
The IHA was founded by Hilda Tweedy along with Andree Sheehy-Skeffington, Susan Manning, and Louie Bennett.<ref name=hil/> The group organized a 'Housewives Petition' sent to the Government before Budget Day in 1941. Later that year over 600 additional signatures were collected.<ref name=PolDict-IHA>{{cite book|last1=Law|first1=Cheryl|title=Women, a modern political dictionary|date=2000|publisher=Tauris|location=London|isbn=9781860645020|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc/page/169 169]|url=https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc|url-access=registration|chapter=IHA – Irish Housewives Association|access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref> Initially known as the '''Irish Housewives Committee''',<ref name=PolDict>{{cite book|last1=Law|first1=Cheryl|title=Women, a modern political dictionary|date=2000|publisher=Tauris|location=London|isbn=9781860645020|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc/page/149 149]|url=https://archive.org/details/womenmodernpolit0000lawc|url-access=registration|chapter=Tweedy, Hilda|access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref> the group was formed at a meeting on 12 May 1942.<ref name=PolDict-IHA/> They initially campaigned for school meals, free travel for pensioners, and consumer protection.<ref name=hil/> In 1946 the organization renamed itself Irish Housewives Association.<ref name=PolDict/>
In 1947, the IHA affiliated to the International Alliance of Women.<ref name=hil/> Members of IHA, Beatrice Dixon and Kathleen Swanton began a campaign to have women serve on juries in Ireland. In 1957, Dixon went on to become the first women to serve on a jury.<ref name="Lunney">{{cite book|last1=Lunney|first1=Linde|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|editor1-last=McGuire|editor1-first=James|location=Cambridge|chapter=Dixon, Beatrice Maureen|editor2-last=Quinn|editor2-first=James}}</ref>
From 1954 until the early 1960s, the IHA was infiltrated and investigated by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid's Vigilance Committee for communist activity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Haan|first=James|date=2015|title=McQUAID'S 'OLD GRANNY'|jstor=43234641|journal=History Ireland|volume=23|issue=1|pages=42–44|doi=10.2307/43234641}}</ref>
In 1968, the IHA played a leading role in the setting up of the Council for the Status of Women (now the National Women's Council of Ireland).<ref name=hil/>
In 1992 the IHA dissolved itself.
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Women's organisations based in Ireland Category:Organizations established in 1942 Category:1942 establishments in Ireland