Title: Gender and Politics in Northern Ireland: The Representation Gap Revisited
Abstract: Abstract This article examines the nature of gender politics in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. Taking gender justice as a normative democratic framework, the article argues that despite the promise of women's equal participation in public and political life written into the Agreement, parties have delivered varied responses to integrating women, women's interests and perspectives into politics and policy platforms. This contrasts with general patterns supporting women's increased participation in social and political life. The article discusses women's descriptive and substantive representation through electoral outcomes and party manifestos, using the demands of successive women's manifestos as a benchmark. It concludes that while parties have given less recognition and inclusion to women than one might have expected in a new political context, the push for democratic accountability will ensure that gender politics will continue to have a place on the political agenda for some time to come. Keywords: Northern Irelanddescriptive representationsubstantive representationcandidate selectionpolitical parties Notes Lilian Calvert (Ind.) 1929–1933; Eileen Hickey (Ind.) 1949–1958; Sheelagh Murnihan (Liberal) 1961–1969; and Mary McSorley (SDLP) 1982–1986. Permitted under Section 46(1) of the Police (NI) Act 2000. Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1975, available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm (last accessed 30 March 2012). Landmark Resolution by the UN Security Council on women, peace and security, available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/ (last accessed 30 March 2012). This is the only election for which these data are available, and extrapolations are made on the basis of the proximity of the 2010 general election and the 2011 Assembly election. Deputy leadership positions have been held by Eileen Bell, former MLA, and Naomi Long MP. The Assembly and Executive Review Committee was established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which gives effect to the 1998 Agreement and its subsequent modifications. It was charged with reviewing the operation of Parts III and IV of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Patterson MP in August 2012. Tom Elliott replaced Sir Reg Empey as leader in 2010.