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Wee Women’s Work

Women’s Groups and Community Development

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Peacebuilding through Women’s Community Development

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Abstract

Donahoe argues that women were at the forefront of this community development because it was driven by care work or soft “bread and butter” issues. As a new field, community development provided an ungendered space for public engagement. Women’s organizations are important actors in their communities because of the range of services that they provide. Women can engage across the interfaces of Northern Ireland, growing networks, sharing lessons learned, and building the capacities of their local communities in a positive sum game that does not threaten the status quo but contributes to slow peace. Where men were actively engaged in the politics of violence, community development was seen as “wee women’s work.”

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, Alison (2004) Cockburn (1998); Duncanson (2016); Elshtain (1987); Enloe (1989, 2000); Goldstein (2001); Giles and Hyndman (2004); Jacobs, Jacobsen, and Marchbank (2000); Moser and Clark (2001); and Ridd and Callaway (1986).

  2. 2.

    See also Parver and Wolf (2008).

  3. 3.

    May Blood (Baroness of Blackwatertown MBE, founding member of the Coalition), interview with author, August 17, 2012.

  4. 4.

    Representatives from every women’s center researched in this project described the dearth of technical knowledge in this same way.

  5. 5.

    Interface is the term used to describe the physical location at which CRN and PUL community boundaries touch.

  6. 6.

    “Residential” is the term used to describe weekend retreats in which women from different communities meet at a neutral location to interact, discuss issues, and get to know one another.

  7. 7.

    The Women’s Centres Regional Partnership has fourteen members: Windsor Women’s Centre, Footprints Women’s Centre, Falls Women’s Centre, Greenway Women’s Centre, Shankill Women’s Centre, Women’s Centre Derry, Waterside Women’s Centre, Strathfoyle Women’s Activity Group, Ballybeen Women’s Centre, Atlas Women’s Centre, Chrysalis Women’s Centre, First Steps Women’s Centre, The Learning Lodge—Magherafelt Women’s Centre, and Foyle Women’s Information Network.

  8. 8.

    Snooker is a game much like billiards.

  9. 9.

    Majella Murphy (Project Coordinator, Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network), interview with author, October 24, 2012.

  10. 10.

    Gillian Gibson (Director, Footprints Women’s Centre), interview with author, November 8, 2012.

  11. 11.

    Community worker, confidential interview with author, August–December 2012.

  12. 12.

    Community worker, confidential interview with author, August–December 2012.

  13. 13.

    Kirsty Richardson (Director, Greenway Women’s Centre), interview with author, September 26, 2012.

  14. 14.

    This is interesting in light of the fact that most if not all women’s centers have benefited from funding from the EU’s PEACE I, II, and III monies that are directed toward peacebuilding efforts.

  15. 15.

    Michele Baird (CEO, Women’s Information Northern Ireland), interview with author, October 4, 2012.

  16. 16.

    Women’s center user, interview with author, August–December 2012.

  17. 17.

    This is a common refrain that was repeated in numerous interactions at a variety of organizations.

  18. 18.

    May Blood (Baroness of Blackwatertown MBE), interview with author, August 17, 2012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA

    Amanda E. Donahoe

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  1. Amanda E. Donahoe
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Donahoe, A.E. (2017). Wee Women’s Work. In: Peacebuilding through Women’s Community Development . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55194-4_6

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