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The term "bean sidhe" is said just like "banshee," so this is really just a phonetic spelling of the Gaelic term: bean = woman and sidhe = faery. The term sidhe is associated with the Tuatha Dé Danann (too'ee day dah'-nan), which means "children of Danu," who was the principal mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This is the group of deities your story refers to. The term also refers to the “fairy mounds,” barrows, or hill-tombs where the Tuatha Dé Danann were believed to have gone when they retreated from the earthly world to reside in the Otherworld. So, it is a term often used for them interchangeably.
There are four major groups of tales, called cycles, in Irish myth: The Mythological Cycle, The Fenian Cycle, The Cycle of Kings, and the Ulster Cycle. The Tuatha Dé Danann are most famously told of in a story of The Mythological Cycle called the Second Battle of Mag Turied (mahg tur-eed), which describes their arrival on the shores of Ireland and the ensuing battles with the peoples who were already living there. The Otherworld, mentioned above, is sometimes called Tir na n’Og (teer na nog), is basically the underworld, and is the realm of the sidhe and the fae (including leprechauns). The fae in Irish myth and folktale can sometimes be quite ominous (although sometimes they are nice to humans, too), and both they and their realm are seen as beautiful and seductive to humans. That's why, in your story, picking up the silver comb is a no-no, because it's a trap. Being whisked away to the Otherworld can be dangerous. If you DO get taken there, it's also important not to eat or drink anything while there, because if you do, you might not get to return to the world of humans!
As for women in Irish history and lore, there are quite a few powerful female figures in the myths and legends: a few that spring to mind are Queen Medb (Maeve), Scáthach (skah'-thakh), a warrior-woman who taught battle arts--most famously, to the Irish hero, Cúchulainn (koo-hoo'lin)--and the three-aspected battle goddess known as The Morrigan. As for the historical aspects, in the 5th century, Irish monks recorded the Irish legal codes, known as Brehon Law, which had previously been passed down by way of oral tradition. Most scholars of the Celts believe these laws to be a fair representation of pre-Christian Irish culture, because Ireland had remained mostly free of Roman influence. In these laws, there are listed 9 different forms of marriage. In the first kind, a man and a woman are on equal ground financially. Then, there are marriages where one or the other of them has more property. There’s marriage by cohabitation with the woman’s family’s consent, marriage where she goes away with him without their consent, or allows herself to be abducted with their consent. And so on...
Both partners had divorce rights, too, but it always had to be for a just cause. Women retained property rights in a divorce, and in most cases, she was allowed to keep whatever property she had contributed to the marriage along with a portion of the property they had accrued together. The Irish Celts also had something in their laws that no other culture of the time had: laws against rape. There were two kinds of rape: forcible rape, and another described as “seduction by stealth of a girl or woman who is intoxicated, asleep, or has a disordered mind.” In both cases, the penalty was the same, and consisted of a fine—everyone, both male and female, had an “honor price,” according to their social status, and this determined the amount of the fine—that was to be paid to the woman, and often her family as well.
They even had a law for something akin to sexual harassment. These crimes involved things like a man kissing a woman against her will, or interfering with, or placing his hand inside her clothing. Verbal assaults, such as “mocking a woman’s appearance, coining a nickname, being derisory about any physical defect, taunting, or repeating an untrue story” about a woman were also against the law. Again, the penalties were a fine paid to the woman and usually her family.
As for women in general in the Celtic cultures, we can assume that most fulfilled traditional household roles, but there are mentions in the literature of women who held professional status as doctors, judges, artists, poets, and even war leaders. According to Roman accounts, Celtic women would sometimes be seen fighting alongside their men on the battlefield, and were described as tall and fierce. There are examples in both myth (mentioned above) and history of powerful women among the Celts. Some historical figures of note are Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes, and Queen Boudicca of the Iceni, both of whom led military revolts against the Romans. (Boudicca kicked Roman butt all over England, and almost defeated them!)
Some of the above is taken from a lecture I gave on Celtic myth and history, and I'm just sharing to give you some background perspective for your storytelling. Hope you find it as interesting as I did! :)
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