Women's Work: A Story of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition

196 Pages·1999·24.541 MB·English

by  Kate Fearon

POLITICS FROM BLACKSTAFF
WOMEN'S
WORK
The Story of the
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
KATE FEARON

kate fearon is from south Armagh, Northern Ireland. She was educated
atQueen's University Belfast where she graduated with a ba in English in
1994. During her time at Queen's she played an active role in student
politics and was president ofthe Students' Union from 1992 to 1993. After
graduating she moved to Dublin to work as Women's Rights Officer for
the Union ofStudents in Ireland. She returned to Northern Ireland in 1995
to take up the post of assistant director of the political think-tank.
Democratic Dialogue. She completed an M.S.Sc. in Irish politics in 1997
and currently works as a political adviser to the Northern Ireland
Women's Coalition. She is the editor of two collections of essays. Power
,
Politics Positionings: Women in Northern Ireland (1996) and Politics: TheNext
,
Generation (1997). A third collection, which brings together diverse
writings by young women in Northern Ireland, is forthcoming with the
Women's Press.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2015
in
https://archive.org/details/womensworkstoryoOOkate
WOMEN'S
WORK
The Story of the
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
KATE FEARON
THE
BLACKSTAFF
PRESS
BELFAST
Firstpublished in 1999by
The BlackstaffPressLimited
BlackstaffHouse,WildflowerWay, ApolloRoad
Belfastbt126ta, NorthernIreland
©Kate Fearonand the NorthernIrelandWomen'sCoalition, 1999
All rightsreserved
Theauthorshaveasserted their rightunder the
Copyright, Designs and PatentsAct 1988 tobeidentified as
the authors ofthiswork
TypesetbyTechnisetTypesetters, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside
Printed inEnglandby Biddles Limited
Acipcatalogue record forthisbook
is available from the BritishLibrary
isbn 0-85640-653-8
Acknowledgements
My role in this book is more of amanuensis than author, and I would like
to thank all of those who shared their stories so readily with me. I hope I
have reflected their views accurately and with sensitivity. I should like to
thank those who read early drafts: Ann Hope, Elizabeth Porter, and Mari
Fitzduff, and Annie Campbell and Jane Wilde, whose sharp eyes caught
and challenged manynuances ofthe later drafts. The role oftwo talented,
generous and gifted women also needs to be acknowledged. Avila
Kilmurray, whose idea it was to compile a contemporaneous history of
the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, and Monica McWilliams are
owed special thanks for their ever-ready advice and support.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for then-
encouragement in this endeavour.
For Granny Cas, a strong woman.
And Hughie.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V
1 The First Election 1
2 Building a Team 39
3 The Forum 51
4 The Talks 69
5 Putting the Agreement to the People 122
6 The Assembly Elections: Taking Our Place 134
APPENDICES
1 Not Just in Northern Ireland 160
2 niwc Candidates in the 1996 Forum/
Entry to Negotiations Elections 165
3 Women Candidates by Party in the 1996/Entry
to Negotiations Elections (Constituency Lists) 168
4 Overall Votes, 1996 Forum/Entry to
Negotiations Elections 169
NOTES 170
BIBLIOGRAPHY 174
INDEX 178