Mary E. Butler of the Gaelic League urges women  to promote the Irish language in 1901

• Realise what it means to be an Irishwoman and make others realise what it means by being Irish in fact as well as in name.
• Make the home atmosphere Irish.
• Make the social atmosphere Irish.
• Speak Irish if you know it, especially in the home circle, and if you have no knowledge of the language, set about acquiring it at once. If you only know a little, speak that little.
• Insist on children learning to speak, read and write Irish.
• Insist on school authorities giving pupils the benefit of a thoroughly Irish education.
• Use Irish at the family prayers.
• Give Irish names to children.
• Visit Irish speaking districts. If Irish people who are students of the language go among their Irish-speaking fellow country people in the right spirit and instil the right principles in them, they will be conferring a benefit on the people, and the people will in return confer a benefit on them by imparting their native knowledge of the spoken language to them.
• Encourage Irish music and song.
• Support Irish publications and literature.
• Employ Irish-speaking servants whenever possible.
• Join the Gaelic League, and induce others to do so.
• Consistently support everything Irish and consistently withhold your support from everything un-Irish.

Mary Butler, Some suggestions as to how Irishwomen may help the Irish Language Movement (Gaelic League pamphlet No. 6, Dublin 1901).
Reprinted in Maria Luddy, Women in Ireland 1800-1918, Cork, 1995, p.299.

Questions

1. What was the author's motive in writing these recommendations?
2. What do the above recommendations tell us about the general attitude to the Irish language in 1901?
3. What does this source tell us about the role of women at the time?
4. Do you think recommendations for men would have been different from those for women in 1901? Give reasons for your opinion in relation to any three recommendations.
5. Evaluate the document as historical evidence.
6. Discuss the document in its historical context.

Activities

1. Research the activities of the Gaelic League in your area.
2. Compare the recommendations of Mary E. Butler above with the account of the Gaelic League given by Jennie Wyse Power below.