Pilkington was a friend of Horace Plunkett and George Russell.

It was a speech by Russell at an

annual general meeting of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society that inspired the foundation of
the Society of the United Irishwomen (UI) by Anita Lett in 1910. Pilkington was the first volunteer
organiser of the UI, and was a leading figure during its early years. She toured extensively in 1910,
founding and organising new branches in the south and west of Ireland. County Wexford was
deemed the most successful during this time. Pilkington arrived in County Donegal in December
1910, armed with a map and a thermos flask, whilst there she described emigration as a blight on
rural Ireland. From this point on, female emigration became one of the major concerns of the UI. [1]
The 1911 pamphlet, The United Irishwomen: their work, place and ideals, was composed of three
essays by Plunkett, Pilkington, and Russell, and a preface by Fr Thomas Finlay. Pilkington focused
on the role of the UI in teaching and promoting rural housewives to establish home industries,
maintain a cleanly home, to provide a healthy diet for the family, and to take an active role in public
and intellectual life. The pamphlet could have been a response to criticism, in particular as many
objected to women's involvement in public affairs.[1][2] Pilkington strongly believed in the need for
women to work for the betterment of Ireland through their place in the home. [3]