To settle for a gendered peace? Spaces for feminist grassroots mobilization in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

This paper offers an examination of citizenship in the context of post-conflict transformation as an important scenario in which to investigate the possibilities for the inclusion of women and women’s demands in the transition to peace. Drawing on interview and ethnographic data collected in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the paper highlights a site of tension between the aspirations for transformation and inclusion set out internationally in UNSCR 1325 and the gender underpinnings of consociationalism that shape the broader political, social and cultural context of citizenship in these case studies. It illustrates that women and women’s claims are repeatedly side-lined in favour of matters that are deemed of more vital interest in the quest for ‘peace’, such as relations between ethno-national groups, security concerns and stability of institutions. Despite this damning failure, women and feminist activists continue to mobilise, as individuals and collectively, in order to make demands for social, political and cultural transformation. The paper argues that attending to these dynamics is crucial if we strive to transform the gender regimes underpinning war/peace and acknowledge women as agents in this process.

Keywords:

• UNSCR 1325
• consociationalism
• gender, conflict
• feminist activism

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Sara Clavero and Giulia Carabelli for their feedback on an earlier draft. I also wish to thank the editorial team and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and productive suggestions. I am indebted to all the people in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina who have inspired and made invaluable contributions to this research piece in many different ways. Any mistakes I have made are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. This body of work is reflective of the somewhat monumental aspirations in the agenda of mainstreaming gender in all aspects of conflict transformation and peace-building. (See for example Myrttinen, Naujoks and El-Bushra, 2014, Hoewer, 2013; Pratt and Richter-Devroe, 2011; Tryggestad, 2009, Cockburn, 2007; Cohn, Kinsella, and Gibbings, 2004).

^2. Another reason for shifting the focus from the top-down dimension of implementation lies in the fact that NI remains a blind spot within the UNSCR 1325 agenda. Despite the UK official commitment to a National Action Plan, the British Government does not acknowledge ‘the Troubles’ as a case of armed conflict, thus leaving NI out of their 1325 remit. The Irish Government has included references to NI in its NAP. However, the history of competing nationalisms raises sensitivities around implementation (see Hoewer, 2013). BiH, on the other hand, currently has an NAP for UNSCR 1325, but I contend that this rhetorical commitment clashes with the entrenchment of ethno-national rhetoric. These problems do not make 1325 completely redundant because, as I will argue, activists in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina draw on the vision and principles of UNSCR 1325 to craft their demands for inclusion. Nevertheless, these dynamics are illustrative of the need to critically interrogate the applicability of UNSCR 1325 to different scenarios.

^3. This study draws on interviews and ethnographic data that I have gathered in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland in 2010–2014. In BiH, I conducted 25 in-depth interviews with feminists, civil society activists, members of political parties, officials in (local and international) gender machinery institutions, academics, individuals working in cultural production and the media. Other methods included participant observation at cultural events, meetings and conferences organised by activists in Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka. I analysed these data together with cultural products, installations and media clipping in my doctoral thesis ‘Gender, Citizenship and the Promises of Peace: the Case of Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina’ (Deiana 2011). Data collection in Northern Ireland involved participant observation at the following consultation processes: Round Table ‘Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding’, Women Delivering Peace & Security- Hanna’s House All Ireland Conference, Croke Park, Dublin, 5 November 2012; Haas-O’Sullivan Taks: What do Women Think? Europa Hotel Belfast, 1 March 2014; Consultative Workshop on the Development of Ireland’s second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security – Conflict Resolution Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Iveagh House, Dublin, 2 October 2014. Since June 2012, I have been involved in Belfast Feminist Network both as a researcher (see Deiana, 2013) and as an active member. In 2013, I co-facilitated a series of meetings exploring the experiences of women living in interface areas within the project ‘Fostering Dialogue Across Divides’ led by Mediation Northern Ireland in cooperation with BFN. Insights from the project also inform this study. Finally, information analysed here derives from personal conversations with activists in BiH and NI and from social media analysis.

^4. Unionism and nationalism identify the two main opposing political formations in NI while, respectively, loyalism and republicanism refer to their more overtly militant forms.

^5. The parties in power could not find a shared strategy for the issuing of ID cards as a result of ethnic differences/vetoes.

^6. The two terms are not synonyms: while power-sharing is a central feature of consociationalism, together with weighted voting, group autonomy and proportionality, this can be used in its broadest sense to identify ‘various forms of non-majoritarian governance’ (Byrne and McCulloch, 2012, 568).

^7. This cohesive effort was reinforced by a pragmatic approach that focused on promoting the existing structures of the Good Friday Agreement as a framework for the implementation of 1325 and, thus also circumvented opposing visions of the state held by different women’s groups (see for example, Hinds and Donnelly, 2014). At the same time, the potential of this approach is also constrained by the gendered and ethnicised order institutionalised by power-sharing. Whether this space can be opened up through grassroots mobilisation and links with the public sector and political stakeholders remains an open question (see However, 2013).

^8. See Facebook pages https://www.facebook.com/ReclaimTheAgendaNI, https://www.facebook.com/BelfastFeministNetwork and https://belfastfeminist.wordpress.com/

^9. See Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/crvena.ba and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fondacija-CureCURE-Foundation/282491238469337?fref=ts