Mainstream politics in Northern Ireland has not been welcoming to women, but many women have been present in community and voluntary organizations where their contribution has been outstanding. This book examines four organizations (including the recently-formed Northern Ireland Women's Coalition) where women have been active. It discusses the processes and structures created by these groups in order to work democratically across differences and argues that their experiences are invaluable to the development of feminist debates on democracy and difference.

Autorentext

CELIA DAVIES is Professor of Health Care in the School of Health and Social Welfare at the Open University, and was formerly Professor of Women's Studies and founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Women at the University of Ulster. She is the author of Gender and the Professional Predicament in Nursing (1995) and co-author of a range of reports and publications on women in Northern Ireland. CARMEL ROULSTON is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Ulster. She has been involved in women's groups and projects for many years and has written chapters and articles on feminism and the women's movement in Northern Ireland. She is currently developing a comparative research project on women and post-conflict politics.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction PART I: CONTEXT AND CONCEPTS Women, Community and Politics in Northern Ireland; G.McCoy Democracy and the Challenge of Gender: New Visions, New Processes; C.Roulston PART II: DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE IN ACTION We are these Women: Self-conscious Structures for a Women's Centre; C.Roulston & M.Whittock 'Equal in the Eyes of God': A Religious Community Working for Peace and Reconciliation; C.Roulston Wide Awake to Women: A Trade Union Embarking on a Rethinking of its Democracy Project; C.Cockburn Struggling Against the Mainstream: The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition; K.Fearon & M.McWilliams PART III: Participatory Democracy and the Challenge of Dialogue Across Difference; E.Porter Women in Northern Irish Politics: Difference Matters; E.Rooney Appendix 1: A Northern Ireland Chronology Appendix 2: A Note on Methodology Index