Gendering ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland: A comparative analysis of nationalist women's political protests

Ashe, Fidelma

doi:10.1080/01419870701491804

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This approach is problematic in that it separates women and gender as issues, presenting them as isolated from or unimportant to analysis of conflict, or the development of peace and security. The perception of gender neutrality or gender irrelevance to the Northern Ireland conflict is broad reaching and has been well documented in feminist accounts of the Troubles (Ashe, 2007;Connolly, 1999;O'Rourke, 2013). Marysia Zalewski (2005) uses the example of a key explanatory text of the Northern Ireland conflict, Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images (McGarry and O'Leary, 1995), to express how gender is pervasive in our understanding even where it may not appear to be immediately present.…”

Section: Gendering Ethno-national Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging identity hierarchies: Gender and consociational power-sharing

Kennedy

Pierson

Thomson

2016

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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Consociational democracy has become the most influential paradigm in the field of powersharing institutional design and post-conflict peacebuilding. Consociation institutes representation for certain formerly excluded groups. However, it simultaneously inhibits effective political representation for groups that do not align with the societal divisions that consociation seeks to accommodate, specifically the 'additional' cleavage of gender. Given the extensive use of the consociational model as a peacebuilding tool in divided states and the growing awareness of the disproportionate negative effect of conflict on women, there is a surprising lack of consideration of the effect that consociational power-sharing has on women's representation. This article considers the specific impact that the consociational model has on women's representation. We argue that because gender is an integral factor in conflict, it should therefore be integral to postconflict governance. With empirical reference to contemporary Northern Ireland, it is illustrated that consociationalism is a 'gender-blind' theory.

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Section: Gendering Ethno-national Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging identity hierarchies: Gender and consociational power-sharing

Kennedy

Pierson

Thomson

2016

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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“…The immediate years following the GFA were paradoxically characterised by 'the prospering and waining' of loyalist political parties (Mac Ginty, 2004). This has nurtured a defeatist mentality within PUL communities, whereby a belief that not only are they losing out to republicans at a formal political level via the implementation of the GFA but that they are also losing out at a 'street' level with republicans slowly eating into PUL territory has prevailed (Ashe, 2007). As Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) spokesperson John Kyle articulates for them their culture is an important part of their life.…”

Section: Flags Symbols and 'Shared Space'mentioning

confidence: 96%

The Great Awakening? The Belfast Flag Protests and Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist Counter-memory in Northern Ireland

Hearty

2014

Irish Political Studies

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This article examines the protest movement that surfaced as a result of the decision taken by Belfast City Council to remove the Union flag from Belfast City Hall in December 2012. This article examines why the issue conflagrated as it did and led to a mobilisation within working-class Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist (PUL) communities on the issue. Examining the flag protests within the context of more general PUL disaffection with the Good Friday Agreement and its associated peace process, this article looks at the flag protests as an avenue for disaffected PUL communities to assert a new counter-memory that challenges not only the 'other' but also those within the leadership of political Unionism who are said to have used PUL communities during the conflict only to abandon them in the post-conflict transition. This article concludes by examining the future potential of the new political movement born out of the flag protests and the avenues open to it to challenge the hegemonic position of traditional Unionism that has left PUL communities behind as Northern Ireland progresses in transition out of political conflict.

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“…18 Most of the participants also cited issues such as the lack of childcare, latenight hours of meetings, a lack of confidence among some women and the double burden of domestic work and full-time political work as fundamental factors in deterring their participation in electoral politics. Sinn Féin's declared commitment to gender equality (Ashe 2007) has led to a situation where it now operates a gender quota; something which most of the participants reluctantly agree is a necessary mechanism of 'positive discrimination'.…”

Section: 'Resisting Populist Positions': Republican Women and Electormentioning

confidence: 98%

‘Negotiating New Roles'

Gilmartin

2013

International Feminist Journal of Politics

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Based on in-depth interviews, this article critically assesses the current roles that Republican women occupy as the North of Ireland continues to emerge from conflict. In doing so, it argues that women's political mobilization during the conflict period can be carried forward into post-war scenarios; however, it is the nature of that activism that proves problematic. The conflict transformation period witnessed a more highly formalized role for Republicans that contrasts sharply with radical spaces opened up during the conflict; in particular, the re-emergence of rigid state institutions coupled with formal political parties appears to severely restrict women's sense of political mobility. As Republicans move away from 'revolutionary agitation' into more formalized politics, many Republican women are encountering cultural and structural barriers to their involvement within that realm. This research finds that while some women are participating within the sphere of formal politics, many are continuing their political activities within the community and voluntary sector, which they view as a far more effective mechanism for exerting political agency.---

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Gendering ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland: A comparative analysis of nationalist women's political protests

Cited by 29 publications

References 15 publications

Challenging identity hierarchies: Gender and consociational power-sharing

Challenging identity hierarchies: Gender and consociational power-sharing

The Great Awakening? The Belfast Flag Protests and Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist Counter-memory in Northern Ireland

‘Negotiating New Roles'

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