The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland

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Bilde: Gary Waters

Initially, both the Protestant and the Catholic church had these types of institutions, but in the later years, only the Catholic church continued to run Magdalene Laundries. The first of these institutions, called The Dublin Magdalen Asylum, was established in 1765, and only welcomed Protestant women. The name came from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene, who has been portrayed as a prostitute or 'fallen woman'. The institutions were run by nuns.

The women who were sent to the Magdalene Laundries were forced to work doing laundry, needle work, lace making, or other forms of labour. The women had not been sentenced to this punishment by the legal system, so there was no fixed limit on how long they had to remain in the institution. Some left after a short time, while others spent their whole lives imprisoned.

The institutions ostensibly existed to teach promiscuous women morality and save them from a life of prostitution. However, there were many different reasons why women were sent to the institutions: Women with special needs, women with psychiatric problems, victims of rape, victims of abuse and incest, unmarried women who had become pregnant.

Some women were sent to the Laundries through the legal system, as a condition of probation or instead of being sent to reformatory schools. Some were transfered from industrial schools (a type of orphanage found in Ireland), or mother and baby homes, some were sent by the police, psychiatric institutions, or county councils. Some were sent by family members, by social workers, or by members of the clergy. Until the second half of the 20th century, nobody raised concern over the existence of Magdalene Laundries: the institutions were accepted by society.

Life at the Magdalene Laundries was strict. There was not much food and hard work. Women had to cut their hair short or shave their heads, and they had to wear uniforms. There was no unsupervised contact with the outside world. they could not send letters or make phone calls without censorship and control. Violating rules was met with physical punishment, for example flogging. In 1993, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity was in debt, and decided to sell part of their property. This led to the discovery of 133 unmarked graves. When the graves were opened to be moved, a further 22 corpses were discovered. This caused a scandal that threw light on the system of Magdalene Laundries and the injustices women had suffered there.

Many religious orders have refused to share their records of how many women were incarcerated at the Magdalene Laundries. Historians estimate that as many as 300 000 women passed through the system while it existed, and at least 10 000 of them after Ireland gained independence in 1922. In 2013, the government issued a formal apology to the women who had become victims of the system, and a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors was set up by the Irish government.