Claire Pierson

Challenging identity hierarchies: Gender and consociational power-sharing:

Consociational democracy has become the most influential paradigm in the field of power-sharing institutional design and post-conflict peacebuilding. Consociation institutes representation for certain formerly excluded groups. However, it simultaneously inhibits effective political representation for groups that do not align with the societal divisions that consociation seeks to accommodate, specifically the ‘additional’ cleavage of gender. Given the extensive use of the consociational model as a peacebuilding tool in divided states and the growing awareness of the disproportionate negative effect of conflict on women, there is a surprising lack of consideration of the effect that consociational power-sharing has on women’s representation. This article considers the specific impact that the consociational model has on women’s representation. We argue that because gender is an integral factor in conflict, it should therefore be integral to post-conflict governance. With empirical reference to contemporary Northern Ireland, it is illustrated that consociationalism is a ‘gender-blind’ theory.

Rights Versus Rites? Catholic Women and Abortion Access in Northern Ireland

Pierson’s chapter addresses a topical and still fiercely contested issue for Irish Catholics. Gendered conceptualisations of nationalism present resonant imagery of women as mothers of the nation, often stereotyped in Irish nationalism through the highly Catholic image of the Virgin Mary. Viewing women’s key contributions to national identity through the role of motherhood creates assumed notions of nurturing and self-sacrificing identity. Abortion and its assumed rejection of motherhood crosses boundaries of ideal womanhood and as such is presented as abhorrent to Irish Catholic nationalism and to Irishness more widely on the island of Ireland. This chapter calls on liberal theological conceptions of Catholicism such as that voiced by Catholics for Choice to envision how abortion stigma could be broken down in Northern Ireland.

Allies or Opponents? Power-Sharing, Civil Society, and Gender

Feminist critics of power-sharing argue that power-sharing structures privilege ethnic/ethnonational identity and impede womens descriptive and substantive political representation. This paper extends these arguments to consider the extent to which consociational theory addresses the role of civil society and womens political voice in postconflict societies. We argue that power-sharing is overly concerned with formal representation to the detriment of understanding the role civil society can play in peace building. Whilst we acknowledge the importance of civil society retaining a critical distance from political institutions, we suggest several mechanisms for incorporating civil society into power-sharing arrangements. We argue that a consideration of civil society can highlight the gendered issues that are ignored in power-sharing settings, and we conclude that a broader understanding of both “politics” and “conflict” is required for power-sharing to be more equitable to womens descriptive and substantive representation.

Can abortion rights be integrated into the Women, Peace and Security agenda?

ABSTRACT Reproductive rights are an under-theorised aspect of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, most clearly typified in United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and successive resolutions. Yet reproductive rights are central to women’s security, health and human rights. Although they feature in the 2015 Global Study on 1325, there is less reference to reproductive rights, and to abortion specifically, in the suite of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions themselves, nor in the National Action Plans (NAPs, policy documents created by individual countries to outline their implementation plans for 1325). Through content analysis of all resolutions and NAPs produced to date, this article asks where abortion is in the WPS agenda. It argues that the growing centrality of the WPS agenda to women’s rights in transitioning societies means that a lack of focus on abortion will marginalize the topic and stifle the development of liberal legalization.

A formative evaluation of online information to support abortion access in England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

Objectives To evaluate web-based information on accessing abortion services retrieved through internet searches in different jurisdictions from the perspective of service users. To provide a formative evaluative mechanism for enabling user-focused design of abortion access information web pages. Design Web searches were conducted in three countries—England, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland—using two search engines in the summer of 2016. Four search terms were used and the first two pages of results were analysed. The perspective of someone seeking abortion services was used. Sources were evaluated using a five-item tool combining user-based indicators identified in other instruments and a question on jurisdictional accuracy. Results A total of 619 web pages were retrieved through initial searches, 83 of which related to accessing services; 22 pages were retrieved from the Republic of Ireland, 31 from Northern Ireland, and 30 from England. Fewer than a third (n=31) were judged as good or excellent by the tool. The jurisdictional relevancy of information retrieved varied; almost half of all results in each country provided information that was either inaccurate within or irrelevant to the jurisdiction where the search took place. Conclusions If online information is to support abortion access, the circumstances and perspective of the user requires more attention. Designers of abortion information pages online need to ensure that information about access is relevant to the jurisdiction in which users are based.

Researching gender in divided societies: a conversation

Contemporary challenges: researching gender in divided societies. Claire Pierson and Jennifer Thomson in conversation with Fidelma Ashe and Gorana Mlinarević Claire Pierson , Jennifer Thomson , Fidelma Ashe and Gorana Mlinarević Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe Campus, Crewe, UK; School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy and the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, Jordanstown Campus, Newtownabbey, UK; Sociology Department, Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK