The Women Peacemakers of Northern Ireland

Amid headlines of Iraqi civil war and increasing challenges facing Afghanistan, from Northern Ireland comes wonderful news. As the war in Iraq continues to divide the populations of both Iraq and the United States, former adversaries Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness have come together to form a unified government in Northern Ireland.

Despite the history of conflict in Northern Ireland, their pledges for peace ring inspirational and hopeful:

"From the depths of my heart, I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in this province," Paisley said.

As we celebrate this formal agreement, we should recognize the unsung heroines - Northern Irish women, both Catholic and Protestant, such as Monica McWilliams and Baroness May Blood - who fought long and hard for this day to come.

While the media focuses on the smiles and handshakes of prominent political figures, some of the most important peace building has been done at the grassroots level by women.

As a representative of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC), Monica McWilliams played a key role in the Belfast Agreement. The NIWC sent McWilliams and Pearl Sager to the negotiations table to argue for the needs of their communities and for the women of Northern Ireland. As a Catholic and a Protestant, respectively, the two women were able to create bridges between negotiating parties that helped to ensure the success of the agreement. In 2005 McWilliams was appointed Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland.

McWilliams and Sager rose to national prominence through the support and actions of thousands of women working at the grassroots level to make significant changes in their communities. These women helped to bring about peace not through political negotiations but by providing basic health and social services, by improving working conditions, and by leading the charge for integrated education. Twenty years ago there was a single integrated school in Northern Ireland teaching 28 students. In 2005, there were 58 integrated schools teaching over 20,000 students. This progress was achieved through grassroots activism spearheaded by May Blood, a local Belfast woman with no college education who spent 38 years working in a linen mill.

Women have been an integral part of the peace process in Northern Ireland for decades. In 1976, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work building the Peace Movement of Northern Ireland. During the presentation speech, it was said that with unerring instinct they started at the "wrong end" - not at the top, among the shrewd heads that were filled with so much political insight - no, they approached the ordinary men and women of every day, with a clear and simple message: we must put an end to the use of violence and to acts of terrorism.

Despite the Nobel Prize awarded to Williams and Corrigan, the accomplishments of women working at the community level are often overlooked by mainstream media. Without political prominence, without photo opportunities, and without press conferences, the women behind these important changes are all too often invisible in conflict situations.

From Sudan to Colombia, in both the Middle East and India, women are working to bring about peace but are marginalized in formal negotiations and under-recognized for the work. Their critical role must be recognized and maximized.

Ongoing conflict situations may learn from what has taken place in Northern Ireland. As Senator Ted Kennedy remarked in Belfast on May 8th, "This is an extraordinary example that Northern Ireland is showing to the world, that you can disband militias and private armies, and put away the bomb and bullet." For the lesson to be heard, we must celebrate the accomplishments of women peace builders in Northern Ireland.

Read more about Monica McWilliams and Baroness May Blood.

The Initiative for Inclusive Security, a program of Hunt Alternatives Fund, advocates for the full participation of all stakeholders, especially women, in peace processes. Creating sustainable peace is achieved best by a diverse, citizen-driven approach. Of the many sectors of society currently excluded from peace processes, none is larger or more critical to success than women. Since 1999, Inclusive Security has connected more than 500 women experts with over 5,000 policy shapers to collaborate on fresh, workable solutions to long-standing conflicts across the globe. For more information visit www.InclusiveSecurity.org.