Women in Northern Irish Politics: Difference Matters

Abstract

This chapter is a series of critical reflections. It is driven by the effort to grasp, explain and understand further what women do and how gender works in the politically divided and sectarian society of the north of Ireland.¹ It offers a situated exploration: of women in conflict; of democracy and sectarianism; and of feminism and local feminist approaches to conflict and war. The chapter contends that the historically sedimented, asymmetrical power relationships between unionism and nationalism in the north of Ireland matter to women and men. These relationships shape political perspectives, experiences, behaviour and life chances. They are the relationships at the core of the efforts to reach a more just democracy contained in the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.² Democracy, what it is, who has a purchase on it, and how it works in a divided society, are all issues of popular political debate here in the north of Ireland. They are also matters of keen debate in the context of devolution in Britain. The chapter provides an analysis of some of the contexts within which takes place the work of people involved in the case-study organisations discussed in Part II of the book.