Feminist Politics and the Peace Process

Abstract

The Belfast Agreement is currently being addressed in light of a number of issues: freedom of assembly and the right to protest; international models of peace and reconciliation; reinventing government; devolution; and the decommissioning impasse. However, the implications of the Agreement for feminist politics and women's organisations in civil society are not clear. Historically, feminism is a tangible and observable set of ideologies and form of politics in Northern Ireland. Contemporary women's groups occupy an extensive political space in civil society. Activists in grassroots organisations, where women are concentrated, are as central as elected representatives in the drive towards a negotiated settlement. ‘Doctrinal’ interpretations of the Peace Process simplify feminist politics and occlude diversity and conflict both within and between different groups of women. This paper explores how a conflict approach to feminist politics can pose alternative questions about the Peace Process.

Demarcating Violence in the Dramaturgy of Lisa McGee’s Girls and Dolls

“…24 Similarly, the sociologist Linda Connolly has argued that, 'until recently women were simply left out of academic representations of the Troubles'. 25 If they have been similarly inconspicuous in dramatic literature from Northern Ireland, this is due in part to the fact that men have been more visible as active agents in the political conflict and, by contrast, 'women's political identities are viewed as passive and consensual'. 26 Thus, where women do appear onstage in plays for and about Northern Ireland, they are generally represented as 'peace makers rather than active political and transformative citizens in political analysis,' 27 and are therefore quite often confined to the home or other domestic areas.…”

“…As suggested by her personal appearance as 'a walking wrinkle' (GD, viii, p. 16), Emma's home is chaotic, disorganised and without a clear figure of authority; details which later come to be used as evidence in her defence after the crime has been committed: 'Her mother's sick --her father drinks ... She dresses in rags and she doesn't get fed, poor, poor little Emma' (GD, ix, p. 19). By contrast, Clare's outward appearance suggests an ordered, affluent home life; she is 'always so neat' (GD, viii, p. 17) and her parents give her so many gifts that her bedroom looks like a 'toyshop' (GD, xvi, p 25…”

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“…¿De dónde provenía esta situación? Según los testimonios de la época eran muchas las nodrizas que ejercían por dinero 26 , por lo que, incluso, se las acusó de mercenarias y malvadas. Implícitamente, los comentarios sobre las nodrizas iban unidos a la crítica de las madres, pues el hogar era un espacio completamente acotado y encomendado en su funcionamiento exclusivamente a la madre.…”

“…Desde el primer punto de vista, A. Robles apunta que la actitud turística universal consiste en «el placer presentido, la pura premonición de la felicidad» 24 , puesto que la inicial disposición del turista es de fiesta y liberación, refrendada por las representaciones colectivas de turismo internacional que se utilizan normalmente en las Ciencias Sociales, conocidas con frecuencia como las 'Cuatro S': sun (sol), sex (sexo), sea (mar) y sand (arena) 25 . En su línea, la publicidad ha captado estos componentes mostrando gentes disfrutando de esa transitoria libertad, «con alegres vestidos, sobre fondos de terrazas de muebles ligeros o ninfas modernas saliendo del mar en ágil carrera, hacia sombrillas rutilantes» 26 . El individuo en vacaciones, en fin, necesita y cree entregarse a un tipo de vida muy distinta de la que hace el resto del año.…”

“…As it has often been recognised by feminist scholars who study Northern Ireland and women activists themselves 26 , women have been overwhelmingly ignored in the mainstream discussions of the 'Troubles' by both analysts inside and outside the region. This act of marginalising women is highlighted by Aretxaga 27 when she stresses how social science literature about the conflict has ignored organised forms of resistance by women during the 1970s.…”