In this pioneering collection, Cullen and Luddy chart the lives and work of women who were significant figures in Irish political life in the twentieth century. Cutting their activist teeth in the suffrage campaign, many of these women went on to play an important role on the national and international political stage. From trade unionists-Louie Bennett, Helena Molony, and Mary Galway-to political activists-Kathleen Lynn, Rosamond Jacob, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, and Margaret Cousins-these women campaigned on the significant issues of their day, such as suffrage, pacifism, republicanism, trade unionism, socialism, and health reform.