Magdalene laundries (also called Magdalene refuges) were institutions in which women and girls were made to perform unpaid work as penitence for violating moral codes. The first such refuges were founded with the idea of reforming so-called “fallen women,” and they were often overseen by religious groups. The institutions were named after St. Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ disciples. In the 6th century she was misidentified as a prostitute by Pope Gregory I, and she was thereafter used as an example of a “fallen woman” who had been reformed by Christian faith.
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