During the War of Independence around 10,000 Irishwomen were actively involved in the fight for Irish freedom. So why, with the outbreak of Civil War and in the years following this conflict, did the role of women in Irish politics steadily decline until by the early 1940s only a handful of women were involved? 'Dissidents' explores the reasons for this decline. From the divisions caused by the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which led to a fatal splintering of the women's Republican organisation Cumann na mBan, through the effects of internment during the Civil War on female prisoners and the relegation of the majority of women in Irish politics to the margins, Ann Matthews reveals the story of Republican women in the years following Irish independence. She also asks whether they were responsible for their own demise in the political arena, leaving future generations of Irish women without a foundation on which to build.

Ann Matthews is a historian. Originally from Dublin, she now lives in Kildare. She currently lectures at NUI Maynooth on 'Women and War' and 'Republican Women and Iconography'. She has contributed to The Journal of Irish Military History and The Irish Archive Journal. She has also contributed chapters to 'The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations', (ed) Ruan O'Donnell (2008) and 'Associational Culture in Ireland and Abroad' (eds) Jennifer Kelly R.V Comerford Eds) (2010). She is the author of 'Renegades' (2010) and 'The Kimmage Garrison 1916: Making Billy Can-Bombs at Larkfield' (2010).