Magdalen Women (c. 1820s–early 1970s)

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Magdalen Women (c. 1820s–early 1970s)

Irish women.

In Ireland, Magdalen women, so called in reference to Mary Magdalene, were thousands of unwed mothers, orphans, and ex-prostitutes, who were confined to convents, where they worked as unpaid launderers until their deaths, when they were buried in unmarked graves on convent grounds.

See also Women in World History.

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