Women’s Civil and Political Citizenship in the Post-Good Friday Agreement Period

This paper examines women’s civil and political citizenship rights in the post-Good Friday Agreement period in Northern Ireland. It argues that while The Good Friday Agreement offered an initial potential to expand these rights, these rights have not yet been realised. In particular, women’s political citizenship rights, explicitly addressed in the Good Friday Agreement, are lagging. Three possible explanations for this situation are examined including: the slow pace of equality and gender mainstreaming, reluctance on the part of political parties to take up available (United Kingdom) legislation to advance women’s candidature for political office and the limits of a rights based discourse in Northern Ireland. Some possibilities for working beyond the Good Friday Agreement to advance women’s civil and political citizenship rights in Northern Ireland are proposed and considered