Housewife of the Year

Housewife of the Year tells the story of Ireland’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition, that has to be seen to be believed, where a generation of Irish women competed in front of a live audience for the title of ‘Housewife of the Year’. 

The former contestants share their direct experiences of marriage bars, lack of contraception, Magdalene laundries, financial vulnerability, boredom, and shame and, of course, of being contestants in the competition. It is a poignant, often hilarious, uplifting story of a resilient generation of women and how they changed a country.

Ciaran Cassidy is an award-winning filmmaker. He is the founder and director of Little Wing Films in Dublin, Ireland – specialising in factual storytelling through cinema, TV and audio formats. His films have premiered at film festivals like Sundance, Telluride, IDFA, SXSW, and Sheffield DocFest and he is the winner of over forty international awards.

Ciaran Cassidy’s second theatrical documentary ‘HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR’ had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in March 2024. The documentary, funded by Screen Ireland with support from RTÉ, DR, NRK and SVT, tells the story of a unique Irish cultural phenomenon, which for three decades saw women from around Ireland compete on stage for the title of Housewife of the Year.