Masculinities, Political Transition and Power: A Case Study of Northern Ireland

Abstract

There has been comparatively little interest in studies of masculinities in Northern Ireland. This chapter explores why studies of masculinities have been slower to develop in Northern Ireland and examines the critical questions that studying men’s gendered identities open up in a society emerging from conflict. Northern Ireland challenges assumptions among some feminist scholars that the study of masculinities renders women irrelevant. Because gendered analysis of masculinities is near-absent in this context, women continue to be marginalised in practice. The chapter concludes by arguing that the integration of critical studies of masculinities into Northern Ireland scholarship exposes the role that gender played in the conflict and also how the region’s conflict transformation has been shaped by gender-power relationships.