Women from across Ireland gather in Newry to commemorate Good Friday Agreement

Women from diverse communities across Ireland gathered in Newry yesterday, 5 July to commemorate 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement.

The commemorations of the Good Friday Agreement have been dominated by men, with little consideration given to the various communities who paid the highest price in the conflict, such as working-class communities, women, and young people. That’s according to some participants in the National Women’s Council (NWC) All-island Women’s Forum who met yesterday at the Southern Regional College in the city.

The National Women’s Council is a national representative organisation for women and women’s groups in Ireland, founded in 1973. They have over 190 member groups and a large and growing community of individual supporters.

The work of the All-Island Women’s Forum has been important in developing the role of women in peacebuilding and leadership in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1325.  The All-Island Women’s Forum seeks to address the historical lack of women in these spaces by hosting a platform of 40 members with equal membership from the north and south. 

Rachel Coyle, NWC Head of Campaigns and Mobilisation said “Women have been historically underrepresented in peacebuilding and decision-making spaces. The 25^th Anniversary of the GFA was an historic opportunity to reflect on its significance for communities, particularly working-class communities, who either were not included or have been written out of the peace process. Today we will reflect on the successes and limitations of the Good Friday Agreement through the lens of women and people from diverse communities on this island without whom peace could not be maintained.”

The Forum opened with a presentation of evidence gathered by the NI Women’s Regional Consortium , set in the context of the budget crisis in Northern Ireland, on the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on women.

Elaine Crory, Women’s Sector Lobbyist at the Women’s Resource & Development Agency, said “The evidence gathered by the Women’s Regional Consortium through focus groups is harrowing, bleak and rings true in all communities in NI right now. This situation has been worsened by the lack of a functioning Executive and will now be worsened again with dramatic cuts from every government department. In this context it is vitally important that we listen to the voices captured in this research.”

Today’s meeting in Newry is the forum’s third in-person meeting of 2023, and will hear from panellists Eileen Weir of the Shankill Women’s Centre, Eileen Chan Hu of CRAICNI, Caroline Munyi of AkiDwA and Nicole Parkinson Kelly of the Northern Ireland Youth.

The attendees hope to build solidarity across the island in the face of the ongoing cost of living crisis, while also exploring the development of an all-island approach in responding to policies that adversely affect women.

Find out more on www.nwci.ie