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Can you help identify these pioneering 1920s Irish science students?

They were students at UCD in 1920. Was one of them a relation of yours?

ucd science students Female science students at UCD Isabelle McCarthy Isabelle McCarthy

WITH THEIR BOBBED hair and dropped-waist dresses, it’s clear the women pictured above were captured having fun in the 1920s.

But the jovial photograph doesn’t hint at their remarkable achievement of being one of the first classes of females to ever study science in University College Dublin (UCD).

It goes without saying that the 1920s were a very different time for women compared to now, but these women’s achievement highlights exactly how different it was. Only a few years earlier, in 1918, they would have been finally allowed to vote alongside men, after a long fight by suffragettes for equal rights.

Just a few years before this, women were finally allowed to enter Irish universities, like University College Cork in 1885 (the first female professor was also in Cork, in 1910), and Trinity College in 1904.

And even then, women at TCD were subjected to very strict rules, and weren’t even allowed to join major societies or remain on campus grounds after 6pm.

Women involved in traditionally ‘male’ fields of study faced many social obstacles – the British Medical Journal had questioned in 1870 whether the female mind was intelligent enough to study in the area of medicine.

The latter half of the 19th century saw debate on the ‘woman question’, and women’s role across many aspects of society. To see women studying science showed that some questions had been answered.

Today, gender parity in studying science in Ireland is very close: men account for 57% of third-level graduates in Science according to CSO figures.

So the photo above is both a lovely snapshot of friends enjoying a sunny day, but also an Ireland where society was changing – and women’s role with it.

Do you recognise any of these women?

Finola Cahill posted the photo above on the UCD Alumni Facebook page to ask if people could identify the other women in the photo with her grandmother, Isabelle McCarthy.

The University said:

It is lovely to receive early photos like this. The photo will sit on our UCD Memories website, which is extremely popular with our alumni. They spend hours reminiscing about their days in UCD by browsing photos, anecdotes and essays that have been submitted by fellow UCD graduates.

The University is also looking for more material to include on the site. UCD Memories website launched in June and is dedicated to memories of UCD through the decades.

Read: These are the main differences between men and women in Irish society>

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9 Comments
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    Mute Sam Harms
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:15 PM

    If weddings can happen this weekend restaurants should have been allowed to stay open until Monday so that they don’t waste the stock they would have bought in for the weekend which will now just be more money lost.

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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:22 PM

    @Sam Harms: Good point, didn’t think about that; presumably they didn’t want a huge rush on restaurants before they’re closed for the three weeks though which was probably the reason for the sudden announcement.

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:47 PM

    @Sam Harms: it wouldn’t be good for deliveroo and uber eats.

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    Mute Mary Ann Sweeney
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:15 PM

    Does the virus not spread at the weekends? What’s the difference between now and Monday?

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:45 PM

    @Mary Ann Sweeney: 2 days. Can’t answer the first one.

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    Mute PeeedOff
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    Sep 18th 2020, 7:36 PM

    @Mary Ann Sweeney: This has to be the most intelligent virus on the planet, it wont get you in 105 mins while eating a meal, it only appears if 26 attend a wedding. Or if 7 are in the house. You can also fly with over 100 people on an aircraft. You can take a ferry with several hindered people to another country, yep apparently it won’t get ya there either.

    Over 200 In one meat plant countless more in others and yet they operate as if nothing is happening. A few hundred Active cases in Dublin and yep yer locked up or down whichever way its the same thing. Oh and yesterday house parties were the cause, but today without any evidence whatsoever its restaurants and pubs.

    Definitely the smartest virus ever.

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    Mute Decko49
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    Sep 19th 2020, 9:26 AM

    @PeeedOff: Its just a pity you’re not as smart as it.

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    Mute Decko49
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    Sep 19th 2020, 9:27 AM

    @PeeedOff: Has any member of your family or any friends died from the virus?

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    Mute PeeedOff
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    Sep 19th 2020, 9:53 AM

    @Decko49: Yes, do you want their Names and address’s. Well I’ll give you their location. The Cemetery.

    Any other personal info you require. Or is the Cynical interrogation finished now.

    And yes, this is now a Casedemic, which this Government is now bending over backwards to destroy society in Ireland.

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    Mute Jeanette Dunne
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:23 PM

    another blow to anyone getting married in the next few days up there, I’ve resigned to the fact the wedding we planned for June 2020 will never be.thinking we were safe pushing it to august, nope, definitely next May right?? Nope probably not!

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    Mute Aaron
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:43 PM

    @Jeanette Dunne: Just push it to late next year? Might have a better chance then

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    Mute SB
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:25 PM

    Covid 19 is such an intelligent virus it knows the difference between 50 at weekends and 25 from Monday

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    Mute Peter Bell
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:23 PM

    Sad times we are living in…..

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    Mute D4 Observer
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:20 PM

    Should have let the communions go ahead too.

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    Mute nelliekel
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    Sep 18th 2020, 6:34 PM

    Wgat about the poor children were to make communion tmw been told day before its cancelled

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    Mute Rachael Baldwin
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    Sep 18th 2020, 9:29 PM

    @nelliekel: Completely agree! My nephew and some of my friends kids were due to have theirs tomorrow too and to find out less than 24 hours before is disgusting. Don’t understand how weddings can go ahead and communions can’t. Furious for the parents and kids.

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Sep 18th 2020, 11:59 PM

    @Rachael Baldwin: Pointless day anyway.

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    Mute William Kelly
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    Sep 18th 2020, 7:11 PM

    Ah shure, just split the hooley into 2 x25 phases. Lots of wedding feasts go over 2 days or more.
    Could be the way forward, his & hers maybe.

    6
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