Where were the men behind the mother and baby homes?
The Irish Times
Where were the men behind the mother and baby homes?
Opinion: This was a society run by men, for men
‘Have the men had enough?”
In the Scottish Highlands, where my mother comes from, this was a well-known phrase used by the women at the end of meals before the menfolk went back to the fields. Indeed it remains current to this day and was used as the title of a novel reflecting that kind of society...
...Have the men not had enough? For each one of these babies, there was a man. There was an abusive father, uncle, brother, friend. There was perhaps a drunken young man or an angry old one. There was a snatched moment of lust or force in a field or a toilet at a dance. In some cases, perhaps, there was a hidden love.
But were the men watching as these women were sent away? Were they listening as these women wailed in fear and anguish as they gave birth in ignominy far from home? Did they hear them cry out as they had their soft and needy newborn children snatched from them as their breasts ached with unwanted milk? Did they think of these women then or when they married later or when they watched their wives or daughters tenderly embrace their own children or grandchildren? Did they wonder ever where these babies were? Do they know what it is to feel an aching unrelenting longing still 50 years on? Have they ever felt the shame?
MORE at http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/where-were-the-men-behind-the-mother-and-baby-homes-1.1860773
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