Soirée Cinéma : Documentary 'Housewife of the Year" (2025)

For our first film on the 2nd of October after the summer break we have decided to give you a blast from the past and show you a recent RTE documentary on a competition that seems today completely outdated and yet only ended 30 years ago: the Irish Housewife of the Year. From 1967 to 1995 Irishwomen competed in heats across the country leading to a final where six contestants battled it out for the ultimate prize of Housewife of the Year. This was a time when women were still very much defined by their role as “homemakers” and during which, until 1973, a marriage bar in the civil service meant that women had to give up their jobs when they got married. The documentary is a look back at that foreign country that is Ireland’s recent past and how it is viewed today by some of the people who took part in the competition. It was directed by Ciarán Carson and won the best documentary award at the Galway Film Fleadh as well as some high praise from film critics. We hope you’ll enjoy it. As usual we’ll be showing the film at the Maison des Européens located at 5 rue Pizay. Doors will be open from 7:45 and we’ll try to kick off at 8pm. We hope to have subtitles for the film, but not in French unfortunately. As usual, refreshments will be provided after the show to keep the conversation flowing. See you there hopefully!

Also check out other Entertainment events in Lyon, Contests in Lyon.