'In Harmony' - A comparative view of female Orangeism, 1887-2000

Abstract

The welcoming of the ladies’ lodges to the Orange cause as announced in this stirring song from England belies the difficulties that Orangewomen endured to join in with their fellow Orangemen. This was one of only a handful of Orange songs such as ‘The Orange Grand Mistress’, ‘The Orange Maid of Sligo’, and ‘The Young Orange Bride’ that specifically referred to Orangewomen. They celebrated the attributes of Orangewomen and ‘The Orange Grand Mistress’ even suggested a rebuttal to any men who suggested they be excluded: ‘[W]hy should those Orange-men, our sex one and all, Shut out from their secrets, when Mary was founder?’ The ladies’ lodges in their various forms throughout the global Orange world helped to bring a softer side to the turbulent and sometimes violent public face of Orangeism.