Women and the Northern Ireland Conflict: Experiences and Responses

As localised conflict situations proliferate, and ethnic, tribal or religious groups in almost all parts of the world strive to establish their distinct ‘national’ identity, many social and political issues which initially appear to have only tenuous links with the specifics of violent conflict are being illuminated in new ways. Relationships which have either been unexamined or taken for granted are having to be analysed or re-analysed in the light of experiences generated in Bosnia or South Africa or Northern Ireland. Among these is the relationship between nationalism and feminism (Hamilton and Barrett, 1986).