Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the so-called Madalena Laundries operated in Ireland. These institutions, generally managed and financed by Catholic institutions in collaboration with the Irish State, served to house “fallen women”, prostitutes or women who had had sexual relations without being married, a serious transgression in an ultra-conservative and Catholic country like Ireland. . These women were forced to work in laundromats in subhuman conditions, hidden from prying eyes. They could not leave these institutions: anyone who joined Madalena Laundry knew that she would never leave or see her family again. Women who arrived pregnant saw their children taken from them, taken to the homes of single mothers, or sold to couples who could not get pregnant, often foreigners. Some died.
It is not known how many girls and women were imprisoned and forced to work in the Lavandarias de Madalena until 1996, when the latter was closed, nor how many babies died in these institutions. Most of the records were destroyed. The figures that exist are low estimates: between 10,000 and 30,000 women passed through the Lavaderos de Madalena and 9,000 children died in the 18 institutions investigated. In 1993, a find made in the grounds of a laundry north of Dublin provided a clearer idea of what was happening inside these institutions —in that year the graves of 133 women, who had died more than 100 years ago, were discovered— . . There was no death certificate for most. In 2003 another 22 graves were found.
Title: “Little things like these”
Author: claire keegan
A translator: ines days
Publishing company: clepsydra
Pages: 81
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Source: Observadora
