Not Your Average Bridget: An Introduction

Next to apple pie and baseball, what is more American than immigration to the United States? America was founded on the courageousness of individuals who left their home countries in order to make this land their own. The presence of different cultures and peoples is what makes the United States of America the diverse and welcoming country that it is. The lure of the "American Dream", accompanied with other driving forces, caused groups of people from Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world to flood the shores of the United States in hopes of making something more for themselves and for their families during the 19th century. Though every group faced hardships in coming to and assimilating in America, arguably no other group faced as much adversity to be overcome than the Irish. History tells us the stories of Irish men; stories of those who met adversity and discrimination in the hopes of finding opportunity. Many failed to overcome their hardships, while many others achieved the goal of the "American Dream". The fate of Irish men in America has not been ignored by history; but what of the women who accompanied these men or came to America on their own accord?

Female Irish immigration tells a very different story from that of Irish male immigration. For these women, their stories are not about opportunities, but rather stories of necessity, obligation, and survival. Like Irish male immigrants, women had their own reasons for coming to America during the 19th century. Some were forced to leave Ireland out of desperation caused by the Great Famine or because of the decisions made by men, both circumstances that were out of the control of women (1). Others left for better job and economic opportunities, while still more women simply followed their families and husbands across the ocean for the chance of a better life. As history has often suggested, Irish female immigrants did not just simply disappear into the background once they made it to the American shore. These women's experiences were as diverse as American culture itself was back then and is today. From the minute the women stepped onto American soil, their job search began. While the majority entered into occupations, the search for jobs was intensive and the types of jobs Irish women held were quite diversified, as well as often held out of desperation to support themselves and their families. Irish female immigrants were often stereotyped as a "Bridget", a typically Irish name that became synonymous with the role of domestic servant, eliminating the uniqueness and diversification of the lives of this particular group of women (2). Irish women were more than just servants: they ranged from young girls to widows; from wealthy to those living in squalor; they were factory girls, teachers, store workers, dressmakers, seamstresses, and mothers (3); they all faced unspeakable hardships and discrimination. Irish female immigrants did not quietly exist in America during the 19th century. They left their mark on both the history and culture of this country. This is their story.





Sources:

1. Phalen, William. "The Stalwart Ladies: Nineteenth Century Female Irish Emigrants to the United States". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, 92, 2003, 183. 
2. Lynch-Brennan, Margaret. "Ubiquitous Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930". In Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States. Edited by J.J. Lee & Marion R. Casey. New York: New York University Press, 2006, 333. 
3. James McDonough, "Population, Census of the Inhabitants in the Fifth Election District of the Sixth Ward of the City in the County of New York," New York, 1855. From HERB: Resources for Teachers, accessed May 1, 2013, http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1229.