The mainstream press has carried several news reports, like this one from the NY Times, of the formal establishment of a “power sharing” government in Northern Ireland. Women’s role in the peace process is very rarely mentioned, if at all, by the major media outlets.
Marie Besancon, Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s JFK School has done some interesting research on women’s formal participation in the Irish peace talks. Her paper entitled “Women in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: A Novel Use of Expected Utility in Bridging the Gaps Between the Quantitative Scholars and the Policy Pundits” is available here.
On the general significance of women’s role in Irish governance, feminist Margaret Ward has been quoted here as saying that “lasting peace will never be achieved unless positive action is taken to guarantee women an equal position in the development of peace agreements and in all post-agreement political and civic institutions.”
-Bridget Crawford
