What is Womanhood

Recent decades have witnessed in Ireland the advancement and integration of women in the socio-cultural and public spheres. Nonetheless, what does it mean to be Irish and a woman in today's Irish Republic? This period has seen a notable emergence of a generation of new feminine voices that have marked a change in the image offered of the Irish woman until this present moment, an image provided previously almost only by male writers and constructed mainly in terms of religiosity, passivity and motherhood. The short stories written by women at the turn of the 21st century highlight the change in both the perception and position of the Irish woman within her society; however, the Celtic Tiger and Post Celtic Tiger short stories frequently look back into Ireland's past to explore the present to challenge and understand former and contemporary dominant narratives, discourses and stereotypes. This is also the major objective of this chapter.