The Troubles in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was experiencing severe political, social, religious, and fiscal crises toward the end of the 20th century. The mid-1970s were marked by heinous political acts in society, and the conditions that had divided Northern Ireland’s moral and ethical standards made it even more difficult to oppose the paramilitary malicious practices that were still going on at the time. (Hewstone et al. 113). Ruth Agnew and Monica Patterson, two women who are respectively Protestant and Catholic, joined together in response to the social injustices that had grown out of control in the nation to create a group that would advocate for the abolition of the injustices. The two women called for a national convention for females, especially those interested in ending the violent political mayhem and sectarianism. In 1970 in October, tens of thousands of women converged in the War Memorial Building in Belfast, to discuss the agenda of bigotry and mayhem, hence the birth of The Women Together Movement (Hewstone et al. 102). Therefore, other than outlining a clear comprehension of The Troubles, it is imperative that what the women in The Troubles represented and stood up for is critically analyzed.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1998 were a moment that unfolded the core of the principles and the humane in women. Women came together, and in a single voice advocated for the end of sectarianism. Hence many women ended up as prisoners, politicians, peace activists, protestors, and militants (Muldoon 460). Furthermore, women played critical roles indirectly by cooking for both their children and their men, as well as performing domestic chores and running everyday errands to facilitate the smooth livelihood during the three decades of The Troubles. The church women as well strengthened and encouraged the bereaved were homemakers to their husbands, supported their communities both directly and indirectly and as well acted as undercover informers of their spouses and relatives during the times of mayhem, fighting, and struggle.

Indeed, The Troubles for women begun way back in 1968, as was characterized by the Catholic religion marches alleging that the Northern Ireland Protestant government was discriminating against and prejudicing the Catholic faith, by denying them employment opportunities, decent housing, lack of representations in the public service, and underrepresentation in the political arena. It is critical to note that the root of contention most likely began in 1922 when the counties of Ulster (Six in number) remained to be a section of the Great Britain. Therefore, the people in Ulster were primarily distinguished by their religious alignments, whereby many practiced Catholicism and sectarianism. Made up of mostly the native Irish, the people embraced traditional Catholicism, and most of them were Republicans (Muldoon 459). A good percentage of the citizens (approximately 89 percent of those in Ulster) were interested in their local home rule in the Irish Republic. Nevertheless, the descendants of the British colonies wanted to be affiliated with their British colonialists who were the settlers of Ireland then, and hence they were Protestants by religion as opposed to the former group. Furthermore, they were unionists and loyalists as well, and they wanted to be part of the Great Britain so as to maintain a majority of the Protestants on the platform of political supremacy (Lester 722). Therefore, there was a significant conflict between the two factions in the country. People pulled against each other based on both religious and political lines. As opposed to men who were actively involved at the beginning of the struggle, women performed their usual traditional chores as usual. However, as time went by, it would be learned that the female gender also took up significant roles in the course of sectarianism. Women stood ground and elected their female representatives in leadership platforms, progressive politics, and organizers in the course of the conflict.

One Bernadette Devlin McAliskey was a renowned and revered politician, whose tough stance was cardinal in the whole course of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. She was a staunch Catholic who practiced traditional Catholicism. Dating back in early 1960, she was a student, and she had joined the organization for students` activism, where she would later emerge as a central figure in the movement (Lester722). While holding the position of a student leader, she developed critical skills in her eloquence and public speaking. She knew how to electrify her audience and ensue sparks of fury in her supporters in the guest to facing the opponents and advocating for social justice. Several years later Delvin joined active politics in Northern Ireland. Luckily enough for her supports, but unfortunately so to those opposed to her robust and unwavering ideologies, she won a straight ticket to parliament, and hence would emerge as an influential female icon from the Catholic minority stronghold in the country (Aretxaga 781). Her objective was clear and known to all, protesting against the then unjust government which favored the majority Protestants than the minority Catholics. It is recorded in history that she was at loggerheads with one Maudling Reginald, the Home Affairs Secretary, and she went ahead to become violent within the precincts of the Parliament over controversial allegations made by the latter in the august house. It is recorded that Reginald claimed that the demonstrators, who were Catholics, had been lawfully shot down by the British paratroopers, despite their being unarmed in 1972. Furthermore, in 1981, there was an attempt to the life of McAlikey and her husband, when they were shot severely (Aretxaga 782). However, the couple did not die other than the terrible gunshot wounds they sustained. She was a representative of the women movement. Her passion and rigor mirrored the formidable effort embraced by the thousands of women in the country who marched and protested against murder, extrajudicial killings, prejudice, and discrimination, as well as political assassinations by religion and gender (Aretxaga 781). She represented the people of Northern Ireland who were against the protestant block that formed the majority of the government against the minority Catholic religion.

Following the terrible incidence that claimed lives of hundreds and destroyed homes of thousands, the women would come up with a union to redefine the moral ethics of the northern Iranian society. The 1970 movement for females formed by Patterson and Agnew, the catholic and protestant respectively, was aimed at countering the troubles of the time (Loyle, Davenport, and Sullivan 95). Women were drawn in public conventions, political rallies, and social conflicts to advocate for vigil, unity and the end of the battle. All women from either faction were a formidable combination, which nullified the divisions in the country as was founded on religion and political alignments (Loyle, Davenport, and Sullivan 95. Children were given shelter, the hungry were given subsistence meals, and the homeless were hosted in camps.

In 1976, Betty Williams and Corrigan Mairead organized another movement when three nephews belonging to Corrigan`s family were killed in a greasily accident after the British soldier shot the driver of the car they were traveling in. The Peace People movement organized and initiated demonstrations from inside of the country and even abroad over the killings. In 1976, both Corrigan and Williams won the Nobel Peace prize after their peaceful demonstrations with the Peace people in Northern Ireland (McNally 17).

In the towns of Derry and Belfast, the encounters of the conflicts of the troubles were daily caused and magnified by the increased presence of Protestant police and soldiers, characterized by increased Catholic protesters. It was common that the Protestant British paramilitaries would occasionally attack the Catholic protesters and their security forces (McNally 14). Therefore, women protected their paramilitaries by offering safe shelter, food, and acting as informers by banging metallic material to reveal the approaching Protestant forces. The Irish Republican Army was greatly benefited by women as such.

Furthermore, women participated as mass bombers, members of the paramilitaries, street fighters, and plotters of assassinations. On the other hand, the Republican women jailed at Armagh were often active participators in protests, in support of their male counterparts incarcerated in other custody in the country. Rioting and causing commotion were standard mechanisms of solidarity among women during the period of troubles (Rice and Benson 219). Therefore, women were both peacekeepers and expeditious fighters within the time limit that were characterized by mayhem and conflicts of politics and religion.

The Northern Ireland Women`s Movement was addressing the problems that faced women individually, including birth control, domestic violence, and sexual discrimination among others, as the troubles went on. The organization was formed and incepted in 1975, to bring women together from both the political and religious alignments, and to advocate for the rights of women in the society on a common platform for the improved course of livelihood. In 1998, it was realized that the female gender was very significant and indispensable in the Northern Ireland society (Rice and Benson 175). Two representatives of women in the Northern Ireland Women`s Coalition, Pearl Sagar and McWilliams, were sent to represent women at the Multiparty Talks, a course which would see the end of the Troubles, hence the Good Friday Accord, also known as the Belfast Agreement.

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