Greater Involvement of Women in Paramilitary Organisations, Greater Inclusion of Women’s Issues in Politics? The Case of Republicanism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland During the Troubles

The Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1968 until 1998 meant changing situations for women in Northern Irish society. Nonetheless, for many women the extent of change depended on which community they were part of. Women in nationalist/republican communities were more involved in all levels of society than their unionist/loyalist counterparts. This also manifested itself in the paramilitaries. The republican paramilitaries included more women and these women were active in a greater variety of roles than the women active in loyalist paramilitaries. The main reason given for this in academia is that republicanism is a more inclusive ideology with wider social goals than loyalism. This thesis analysed, using discourse analysis, party manifestos and conferences of the main unionist/loyalist and nationalist/republican parties in Northern Ireland during the Troubles to investigate whether this argument also extends to politics. In short, to analyse whether the republican/nationalist...Show moreThe Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1968 until 1998 meant changing situations for women in Northern Irish society. Nonetheless, for many women the extent of change depended on which community they were part of. Women in nationalist/republican communities were more involved in all levels of society than their unionist/loyalist counterparts. This also manifested itself in the paramilitaries. The republican paramilitaries included more women and these women were active in a greater variety of roles than the women active in loyalist paramilitaries. The main reason given for this in academia is that republicanism is a more inclusive ideology with wider social goals than loyalism. This thesis analysed, using discourse analysis, party manifestos and conferences of the main unionist/loyalist and nationalist/republican parties in Northern Ireland during the Troubles to investigate whether this argument also extends to politics. In short, to analyse whether the republican/nationalist parties were more inclusive of women's issues than unionist/loyalist parties. The research found that unionist/loyalist parties generally tended to be less inclusive of women's issues than nationalist/republican ones, but there was one outlier: the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party, which included a wide variety of women's issues, more so than all nationalist/republican parties. Thus, this thesis concludes that the argument of republicanism as a more inclusive ideology extends to politics to some extent.Show less

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Greater Involvement of Women in Paramilitary Organisations, Greater Inclusion of Women’s Issues in Politics? The Case of Republicanism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland During the Troubles