Historically, it's never been easy to be a woman.

Even today, in fact, depending on what part of the world you live in, it could be excruciatingly difficult to live a life as a member of the fairer sex.

But while things like the constant threat of sexual harassment or not having access to medical treatments are a sad reality in the modern day,

that's arguably nothing compared to what the

women of Ireland had to go through between the 18th and 20th centuries. Most people know about

the oppression suffered by women in the past and applaud the progress made since then. Sometimes,

though, the situation was even worse than you've been told.

Music though, the situation was even worse than you've been told. Ireland has always been a deeply Catholic country, and, as a result, for much of its history,

its politics have tended to lean toward the right, something which is certainly the case when it comes to the treatment of women. I mean, it wasn't until 2018 that abortion

was made legal in the country, and part of the reason it had been made illegal in the first place

was not only because the church's belief in the sanctity of life, but also because of old

religious hang-ups about sexual

promiscuity outside of marriage. Of course, it was the same attitude towards women being

sexually active that led to the development of the Magdalene Movement in the mid-18th century.

What was the Magdalene Movement? Well, it was basically a campaign to put fallen women to work

in workhouses, with the ultimate goal being to rehabilitate them and then welcome them back

into the world as upstanding citizens after the fact. As to how a fallen woman was defined,

well, initially, in keeping with the namesake of the movement, Mary Magdalene,

it would mostly refer to sex workers, the group who were considered to be amongst the lowest

of the low at the time. It was a time period where any female who stepped outside of the very

narrow parameters of what was deemed acceptable was considered to be a major societal problem. After all, if they

were freely allowed to do such things as use their bodies to make a living when other opportunities

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