Cumann na mBan, a women's support group to the Irish Volunteers, was founded in 1914. Nationalist in outlook, its aims centered on arming Irish men, generating propaganda, and presenting a united Irish opposition to English rule. The Free State government's awareness of Cumann na mBan's assistance to the IRA after the 1916 Rising resulted in large-scale imprisonment of republican women during the Civil War. But, for a time at least, Cumann na mBan had placed equality for women on the political agenda and demonstrated women could be as politically active and capable as men.
Cumann na mBan and the Irish Revolution
