Miranda Alison
Gender, Small Arms and the Northern Ireland Conflict
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Maria was involved in supportive roles in the early days of the ‘Troubles’ and then very actively in
the late 1980s to early 1990s. She experienced a real difference in respect between the two time
periods. ‘In the early days I would say it didn’t matter what you did, it was just “thanks love”,
you know? “Good for you”, and like patronising. But certainly the second time around I felt
greatly respected. And I woulda been in charge of a job maybe… and I liked that, … I liked
knowin’ exactly what a job was about, where I was goin’.’ Part of this, she feels, is due to the
impact of male ex-prisoners, many of whom took some Women’s Studies classes in prison and
experienced a certain re-education. ‘I was almost revered at times and I couldn’t believe it, you
know, that I was gettin’ this respect from men, and then we talked about Women’s Studies and
all and I thought “god, so this is what the new men are like!” In sayin’ that, mind you, there was
still the ones who were still Mr Macho Man, you know? They tended to be the ones that hadn’t
been to prison and hadn’t been educated in that way.’
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Similarly, Niamh felt that in the later
phase of the conflict ‘in me own experience with people who have went to prison and come out,
people who went to prison especially would be much more progressive in their attitudes towards
feminism, towards equality.’ Nonetheless, she still encountered some sexist attitudes. At one
point she was arrested and held for interrogation (before the time she was imprisoned) and
afterwards she heard that a male volunteer had said ‘oh she’ll break [and reveal information]’,
which he would not have said if she were a man. She remembers feeling very angry about the
intimation.
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Although the interviewees who were active in the 1980s and 1990s generally said they were
treated the same way as male volunteers and they felt respected by their comrades, like Teresa
they all stressed that they were speaking only from their own personal experience and that it was
quite likely that others had had difference experiences. Like Teresa before them, both Eileen and
Mairead believe that their male comrades were a little more protective towards them and a little
more concerned for their safety, perhaps even subconsciously. Eileen also suggested that ‘at the
height of struggle people maybe were treated a little bit more equally in a sense, because there
was so much to do and there was no point in saying well you go off and, you know, make the
sandwiches while I – because there was too much stuff for people to do.’
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In accordance with
this suggestion and Mary’s reported experiences, Mairead also indicated that there has perhaps
been greater gender equality within the military side of the republican movement than within the
political side in terms of how people are treated and issues addressed. This also fits with some of
Caral’s comments. One of the few blatantly sexist incidents Mairead has experienced was not in
Convention