Abstract
This chapter considers the question: did gender play a part in one’s susceptibility to influenza? The role of women during the pandemic, as in many other areas, has gone unnoticed, but women played an important part in combating influenza. They were the main care givers within the home, looking after family members who contracted influenza and many worked in both a voluntary and professional level as nurses. They also stepped up to the mark by working in munitions and other factories during the war. As the title suggests, pregnant women were deemed to be at particular risk from influenza. Their susceptibility to the disease and subsequent mortality is explored. Female activity such as nursing along with one of the main areas of female employment in Ulster, factory work are also examined to ascertain if women were more at risk during 1918.
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Marsh, P. (2021). ‘Woe unto Them That Are with Child’: Gender and Influenza. In: The Spanish Flu in Ireland . Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79500-9_3
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