Women from the loyalist and nationalist communities of Northern Ireland provided the leadership of the peace movement of the 1970s and that leadership was the genesis of the various non-governmental organisations that spearheaded the movement for a culture of peace in Northern Ireland.

Maggie Beirne the Irish human rights activist who is serving on the Disciplined Forces Commission told Stabroek News that anger, frustration and helplessness born of the difficulty in developing a programme for change led women to become active in a number of non-governmental organisations. The organisations seek to address a wide range of issues including poverty alleviation, the environment, and other community related concerns.

She explained that because local politicians wielded little power as the real power resided in London, people joined non-governmental organisations rather than political parties. This she said resulted in a strong and active civil society.

Also she said that the impetus for the peace process was one from the grassroots, which forced the political leaders to recognise and respond to this desire for peace. As a result, she said the political parties started a programme to educate the people as to what was needed to bring about the desired shift from violence to peace.

Beirne credited the Women’s Coalition, which draws its membership from the major political parties, not only in ensuring that women’s issues were on the peace agenda but that women had a place at the negotiating table. She said the Coalition also forced the other parties to bring to the fore the women in their party who had hitherto taken a backseat.

She said too that women even during the most violent period of the struggle were allowed to go into each other’s neighbourhoods to discuss issues of concern to both communities. Beirne says that a consequence of this was that when the peace process got underway there was already in place a network of friendships and relationships across the divide.

The presence of women in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Beirne said, also allowed the victims of domestic violence the opportunity of speaking to other women as well. Their presence too, also saw the introduction in police training, of methods to diffuse tension.

Beirne noted, however, that there were still not enough women in the PSNI and felt that when the percentage reached about 20-30 per cent of the membership of the service, the chances would be greater of making an impact on its culture.

She observed that because of the small numbers there was still the possibility of “unintentional discrimination” against any minority but the chances of this would diminish as the numbers increased.