Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations - Transitional ...

• Confined to a narrow political space without a counterview to prevailing
ideologies
• Displaced
• Disadvantaged by the language being usurped by the conflict: for example the
affect of the conflict on definitions and interpretations of words such as ‘crime’
or ‘violence’ which impacted on women
5.5 Women Victims Post the Good Friday Agreement
How do these experiences of women, overhanging from the past, get addressed in the
transitional phase? In the absence of disaggregated statistics 53 ‘anecdotal evidence suggests
that a significant proportion of those seeking support from victims groups will be
widowed and female…the scheme [core funding scheme] is likely to have a positive
differential impact on women who, in their victimhood, have been made widows.’ 54 Since
there is no government assessment of gendered dimensions of the conflict, it is not
surprising that there is no specific strategy for dealing with the needs of women victims.
This does not mean that women are not included in strategies or that particular concerns
are not referred to, rather that there is no overarching framework. Given the experience of
women during the conflict, questions during transition included:
• How would victim be defined and would it include women’s experiences?
• How would the needs of women victims be assessed and met?
• What resources and funding would be allocated and how would they be
distributed?
• How far would the compensation scheme benefit women?
• Would social disadvantage be addressed and would women’s social and
economic rights be advanced? The 30 years of conflict coincided with a crucial
period for advancement of women’s rights throughout Europe, possibly
impacting on potential gains. Even so, would gender inequality be tackled as
robustly as sectarian inequality? (To what extent did some women suffer the
double disadvantage of sectarian and gender inequality?)
• In prioritising the conflict, if resources were taken from areas such as health or
education, to the detriment of women, was there a plan to improve these
services?
• If crimes perpetuated predominantly on women, such as domestic violence,
were down the priority list for policing or unreported due to an absence of
trust in the policing service, what measures would be put in place to deal with
them?
• Women care for large numbers of those injured during the conflict. What
additional support is given to carers? 55
• Has secondary victimhood been acknowledged, i.e. how women were affected
as relatives/wives/partners – for example, as prisoner’s wives or partners?
• Is there recognition that communal tension may impact on women in a
particular way since women are more likely than men to work in the home and
the community may be their main public space?
53 ‘There is no data available on the gender of victims who have been physically or psychologically
traumatised as a result of the Troubles’. NIO Victims Liaison Unit Core Funding Scheme to Victims
Groups, Equality Impact Assessment, 2002
54 NIO Victims Liaison Unit Core Funding Scheme to Victims Groups, Equality Impact Assessment, 2002
55 Ibid.‘Qualitative data indicates that the majority of carers for those injured or traumatised are female’; and
‘women are more likely to be carers than men’ (20% compared to 14%). OFMDFM Equality Directorate:
Gender Equality Indicators for Northern Ireland, January 2004
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