Lost In Transition? Republican Women’s Struggle After Armed Struggle. A thesis submitted by Niall Gilmartin B.A., for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sociology Department, Faculty of Social Science, Maynooth University, Ireland. Date of Submission: March 2015. Head of Department: Prof. Mary Corcoran Research Supervisors: Dr. Theresa O’Keefe. Prof. Honor G. Fagan This research is funded by the Irish Research Council Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. vi Summary ............................................................................................................................... viii Chapter One-Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Women & Conflict Transition: Contextualising the Study.................................................... 2 Why Republican Women?: The Purpose, Significance & Limitations of the Study ............. 7 Terms and Definitions.......................................................................................................... 12 Organisation of the Chapters ............................................................................................... 16 Chapter Two -‘Does the Body Rule the Mind or the Mind Rule the Body?’: The Perpetual Dilemmas of Men Doing Feminist Research ...................................................... 21 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 21 Feminist Epistemologies ...................................................................................................... 22 ‘Are You Experienced?’: The Benefits and Burdens of Men Under Patriarchy ................ 24 Bridging the Gap of Experience and Theory: Feminist Standpoint ..................................... 27 What Difference Does ‘Difference’ Make?: Multiple Standpoints ..................................... 30 Using A Qualitative Approach............................................................................................. 33 The Interviewees .............................................................................................................. 37 Out In the Field .................................................................................................................... 38 The Interview Process .......................................................................................................... 43 i Power and Inequality in the Research Process .................................................................... 46 Analysing the Data ............................................................................................................... 51 Ethics and Protocol .............................................................................................................. 54 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter Three -Women & Conflict Transition .................................................................. 58 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 58 ‘Which Women?’: Feminist Theoretical Approaches To Conflict Transition .................... 59 Understanding the Links between Women & Peacefulness ............................................ 62 Strategies for Peace & Equality in Post-War: Formal & Informal Approaches .................. 67 Institutionalising Women’s Equality ............................................................................... 72 ‘Women Bridging the Divide’: Transversal Politics ........................................................... 75 Female Combatants, Nationalist Women & Conflict Transition ......................................... 79 Female Combatants: Their Political Struggles for Peace & Equality in Post-War Scenarios .......................................................................................................................... 83 Peace, Security and Equality: Feminist Theoretical Interventions ...................................... 87 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 93 Chapter Four-Women and the Irish Peace Process............................................................ 95 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 95 The Beginning of the End of the ‘Long War’ ...................................................................... 97 Women Organising for Peace ............................................................................................ 103 The GFA Negotiations: A Largely Male Affair ................................................................ 106 From Euphoria to Despair? Women & the Aftermath of the GFA.................................... 110 ii Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 115 Chapter Five - Re-Defining Combatant & War-Time Sacrifice? Republican Women & Post-War Commemoration ................................................................................................. 117 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 117 ‘I Was Involved’: Republican Women & the Meaning of Combatant .............................. 118 “Women Were Not Just the Backbone”: Blurring the Lines of Fighter/Supporter ........... 126 ‘A lesser species of revolutionaries?’: Women & Armed Struggle ................................... 131 The Meaning of War-Time Sacrifice ................................................................................. 137 Republican Commemoration & the ‘Invisibility’ of Women ............................................ 144 Re-Writing Themselves Back Into History........................................................................ 156 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 162 Chapter Six - Conceptualising Peace & Women’s Equality in Conflict Transition ...... 164 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 164 Republican Women: Visions of Peace and Equality ......................................................... 165 “No Link to England”: Republicans at Peace? .............................................................. 167 “Despair & the Dole”: Positive Peace in the Context of Neo-Liberal Capitalism? ....... 177 Republican Women’s Conceptualisation of Women’s Equality ....................................... 188 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 199 Chapter Seven - The Limitations of Party Politics: Women’s Struggle & the Mainstreaming of Provisional Republicanism .................................................................. 201 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 201 ‘Ceasefire Soldiers’: Post-War Republican Politics .......................................................... 202 iii ‘From the Front-lines of War to the Side-Lines of Peace?’: Republican Women and the GFA Negotiations .............................................................................................................. 208 “Put a Feminist Stamp on it”: Clár na mBan ................................................................. 217 The Sinn Féin Women’s Department: The Opportunities & Limitations of Feminist Organising within Formal Political Parties ........................................................................ 220 “Just Faded Away?”: An Ambiguous Ending ............................................................... 229 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 242 Chapter Eight - Understanding the Ways Republican Women Organise for Peace and Equality in Conflict Transition ........................................................................................... 244 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 244 “Where’s the Next Tier of Struggle?”: War-Time Gains & the Continuity of Political Activism in Conflict Transition ......................................................................................... 245 ‘It’s Important, But It’s Not Enough’: Institutional Politics and Conflict Transition ....... 255 Following Party Lines: The Constraints of Party Politics ................................................. 264 “We Want Results”: Grassroots and Community Organising ........................................... 271 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 283 Chapter Nine - Conclusion .................................................................................................