In Need of a Fresh Start: Gender Equality in Post-GFA Northern Ireland
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NILQ 67(2): 233-40
In need of a fresh start: gender equality in
post-GFA Northern Ireland
MICHELLE ROUSE
Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster
A lmost 20 years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA),1 evidence suggests that
decision-making in Northern Ireland remains a relatively closed process.2 Despite the
pledge of equal participation of women in public life, women have remained largely
marginalised in this regard and, in particular, remain systemically excluded from positions
of power and influence.3 The chronic under-representation of women in public life
coincides with the development of an increasingly regressive legal and political discourse in
respect of women's agency in the legislature and in the courts.4 Against this backdrop, the
number of women elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) lags well behind other
devolved institutions.5
This occurs against an evolving normative international and regional framework6
which acknowledges that, in the absence of the active participation of women, the goals
of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.7
In that context, this brief evaluation of specimen commitments falling within
thematic parameters shines a spotlight on the significant failing of Northern Ireland's
world-renowned peace process - to address the post-conflict needs of women.
1 The Agreement: Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations (NIO Belfast 1998).
2 Assembly and Executive Review Committee, Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembl (NIA
2015).
3 Women comprise 19 per cent of chairs of public bodies and 33 per cent of public appointments in total.
Women comprise 80 per cent of those in part-time employment. A mere 18 per cent of County Court judges
are female and, until two appointments in 2015, there were no female members of the judiciary at more senior
rank. There are currently no female permanent secretaries within the Northern Ireland Civil Service and at
grade 5 and above only 33 per cent of staff are women. In education, there are no female University Vice
Chancellors: Michael Potter, 'Who Runs Northern Ireland? A Summary of Statistics relating to Gender and
Power' Research and Information Service Briefing Paper 79/14 (NIA 2014).
4 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission v Department of Justice for Northern Ireland [2015] NIQB 96; NIA,
Official Report (Hansard) Wednesday 10 February, 2016, vol 112, no 5, 77-120.
5 Women comprise 48 per cent of the Welsh Assembly and 35 per cent of the Scottish Parliament: Suzanne
Breen, 'Record Number of Women MLAs returned to Stormont' Befast Telegraph (Belfast, 9 May 2016).
6 UNSC Res 1325 (31 October 2000) UN DOC S/RES/1325. See also wider WPS agenda, CEDAW General
Recommendation No 30 (18 October 2013) CEDAW/C/GC/30.
7 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, 15 September 1995
A/conf.177/20 (1995) endorsed by GA Res 50/203, 22 December 1995.
NILQ summer 2016](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/nilq67&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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In Need of a Fresh Start: Gender Equality in Post-GFA Northern Ireland
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