The Housewife of the Year competition ran for almost three decades, from 1969 to 1995. Thousands of women from all around Ireland entered, hoping to win a cash prize along with some new home appliances.
In later years, the competition was broadcast on RTÉ, featuring footage of contestants taking part in domestic duties at home, followed by a glitzy finale where the finalists were interviewed on stage by Gay Byrne in front of a live audience. Questions often consisted of, ‘how did you meet your husband?’ and ‘what does your husband do?’.
On this episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast, presenter Róisín Ingle is joined by two former winners Ena Howell and Margaret Carmody. Both women feature in a new documentary ‘Housewife of the Year’ which was released in Irish cinemas last month.
In the film, former contestants share their (mostly positive) experiences of taking part in the contest and speak about what Irish society was like for women at the time.
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“I won 500 pounds and a cooker,” says Carmody, who earned the title of Housewife of the Year in 1978. Encouraged by her own mother, the Cork woman entered the competition despite considering herself “very quiet and kind of shy” at the time.
Howell, a mother of five, who won the competition in 1992 remembers the moment her name was called out as the winner: “I did not expect it, it was just complete shock”.
You can listen back to their conversation in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
