00:00:02.448 --> 00:00:04.611
(dramatic synth music)

00:00:04.611 --> 00:00:05.865
(gunfire rattling)

00:00:05.865 --> 00:00:08.698
(people shouting)

00:00:22.411 --> 00:00:25.911
(lively orchestral music)

00:00:29.880 --> 00:00:32.490
-: I suppose if you really wanted to say

00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:34.600
the difference between Northern Ireland

00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.130
and the rest of the United Kingdom, you could say

00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:40.583
quite simply that Northern Ireland is a Christian country.

00:00:45.683 --> 00:00:46.891
(people shouting)

00:00:46.891 --> 00:00:50.067
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:00:50.067 --> 00:00:53.640
Here, a man is either a Protestant or a Catholic.

00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.307
He is either with us or with them.

00:00:56.307 --> 00:00:58.625
(people shouting)

00:00:58.625 --> 00:01:00.100
(gun fires)

00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:03.400
It was the power of religion which created Northern Ireland,

00:01:03.400 --> 00:01:05.700
and it's the power of religion which has been threatening

00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:08.246
ever since to tear the country in half.

00:01:08.246 --> 00:01:10.920
(people screaming)

00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:11.753
-: I've never known where it's come from,

00:01:11.753 --> 00:01:14.233
but I've always had this desire to save the world.

00:01:15.270 --> 00:01:16.893
And that was very rare for a woman,

00:01:16.893 --> 00:01:19.910
I have to say, very rare, because Northern Ireland,

00:01:19.910 --> 00:01:22.561
like so many places, it was male-dominated,

00:01:22.561 --> 00:01:23.394
(whistle blows)

00:01:23.394 --> 00:01:25.663
and women never really figured in it.

00:01:27.338 --> 00:01:29.140
(woman laughs)

00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.580
The people who were elected to look after us

00:01:31.580 --> 00:01:33.100
weren't really looking after us,

00:01:33.100 --> 00:01:35.250
so we had to form our own groups.

00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:37.950
And I suppose, over the years, that just built up,

00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.563
that if we ever were really gonna make a difference,

00:01:40.563 --> 00:01:42.829
it would have to be through politics.

00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:47.326
(people chanting)
(metal banging)

00:01:47.326 --> 00:01:48.390
-: Politics is everything.

00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.320
You might not put yourself forward for election,

00:01:51.320 --> 00:01:53.220
but you were involved in community politics,

00:01:53.220 --> 00:01:55.920
and women were heavily, they were running communities.

00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:00.110
In a society that's so hurt and so in pain,

00:02:00.110 --> 00:02:02.070
where over 3,500 people have been killed

00:02:02.070 --> 00:02:04.690
and 40-odd thousand injured, women were keeping

00:02:04.690 --> 00:02:06.740
things going in the most difficult times.

00:02:07.755 --> 00:02:10.672
(people screaming)

00:02:14.320 --> 00:02:18.360
-: We knew that there was a huge network of women out there

00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:20.960
who found themselves politically homeless

00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:23.170
and who certainly wanted a different voice,

00:02:23.170 --> 00:02:24.980
if peace talks were to be declared.

00:02:24.980 --> 00:02:26.300
-: People were suggesting that we do

00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.600
a voter education campaign, people were suggesting

00:02:29.600 --> 00:02:32.660
that we support women candidates in other parties,

00:02:32.660 --> 00:02:34.130
and then we had this proposal

00:02:34.130 --> 00:02:36.863
about starting a women's party.

00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:44.400
-: The Women's Coalition was made up of decent,

00:02:44.470 --> 00:02:49.470
brave, determined, and extremely capable women.

00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:56.193
I don't think there was a waster in the Women's Coalition.

00:02:57.370 --> 00:03:01.189
How many political parties could you say that of?

00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:05.022
(reflective orchestral music)

00:03:23.646 --> 00:03:26.646
(upbeat rock music)

00:03:28.423 --> 00:03:31.090
(kids shouting)

00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:39.483
-: Interestingly, when I was at school,

00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:44.290
all of us girls looked forward to watching Top of the Pops,

00:03:44.290 --> 00:03:46.880
but myself and one other young woman

00:03:46.880 --> 00:03:48.984
were more interested in seeing the news.

00:03:48.984 --> 00:03:50.680
(people shouting)

00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.200
Because it was a time of equality,

00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:57.503
dignity, equal rights, human rights.

00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:01.543
And I think that's often how women are moved in politics.

00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.940
They see an injustice and they are moved

00:04:05.940 --> 00:04:10.940
to actually make a difference and change the situation.

00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:14.210
-: When we talk about women getting involved in society

00:04:14.210 --> 00:04:16.690
and taking full part in political life,

00:04:16.690 --> 00:04:19.140
this is how to get liberation.

00:04:19.140 --> 00:04:21.020
-: I then went to university,

00:04:21.020 --> 00:04:24.170
and I got involved in student politics,

00:04:24.170 --> 00:04:27.140
so I suppose that was beginning to transfer

00:04:27.140 --> 00:04:29.557
the empathy into a sense of responsibility.

00:04:29.557 --> 00:04:34.133
(contemplative synth and string music)

00:04:34.133 --> 00:04:37.133
(people chattering)

00:04:41.977 --> 00:04:44.502
(people cheering)

00:04:44.502 --> 00:04:45.604
(horn blows)

00:04:45.604 --> 00:04:49.170
(person whistles)

00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:52.550
-: I remember joining the civil rights movement.

00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:57.020
I think I was about 16 years of age, going with my family,

00:04:57.020 --> 00:05:01.066
demanding the right to housing, the right to employment.

00:05:01.066 --> 00:05:02.140
(people shouting)

00:05:02.140 --> 00:05:05.560
And we literally thought that the laws of the land

00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.340
would be changed and that discrimination

00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:10.330
would be challenged and tackled

00:05:10.330 --> 00:05:12.720
and that everything would settle down.

00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.320
How wrong we were.

00:05:16.223 --> 00:05:19.056
(people cheering)

00:05:22.744 --> 00:05:25.161
(horn blows)

00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:28.960
I had rubber bullets fired at me, and I saw

00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:33.440
some pretty horrible brutality that shouldn't have happened.

00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:36.430
(nightstick thwacks)
(woman screams)

00:05:36.430 --> 00:05:40.050
I was very aware that, on these civil rights marches,

00:05:40.050 --> 00:05:42.050
that they were being organized by women,

00:05:43.110 --> 00:05:44.850
that these women were actually

00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:47.312
the champions of the civil rights movement.

00:05:47.312 --> 00:05:49.010
(people cheering)

00:05:49.010 --> 00:05:52.320
The most famous woman that was around was Bernadette Devlin

00:05:52.320 --> 00:05:54.960
because she was incredibly articulate,

00:05:54.960 --> 00:05:57.030
and that was extremely impressive.

00:05:57.030 --> 00:05:58.370
Not only was she a woman,

00:05:58.370 --> 00:06:00.990
but she was a very, very young woman.

00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:03.590
She was the youngest woman MP to ever be elected

00:06:03.590 --> 00:06:06.200
to the House of Commons, at 21.

00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:08.630
-: It is obvious that the Unionist Party

00:06:08.630 --> 00:06:12.060
is quite prepared to set Catholic against Protestant

00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.010
in this country, rather than give

00:06:14.010 --> 00:06:16.680
the reforms which would in fact mean

00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:18.692
that there would be an end to sectarianism.

00:06:18.692 --> 00:06:22.712
(dramatic synth music)

00:06:22.712 --> 00:06:24.947
-: The area I lived in was mixed.

00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:28.200
Protestant, Catholic lived side by side.

00:06:28.200 --> 00:06:30.300
And through that time, we all stayed together.

00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:31.910
We all tried to work together.

00:06:31.910 --> 00:06:34.820
But gradually the area just absolutely disintegrated.

00:06:34.820 --> 00:06:37.370
People got fear, you could've touched the fear,

00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:39.180
and people began to move out.

00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:41.263
(reflective orchestral music)

00:06:41.263 --> 00:06:43.400
And on one particular night,

00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:45.240
some of the Protestant Billy Boys

00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:47.512
came to burn our Catholic neighbors out.

00:06:47.512 --> 00:06:50.490
And my dad went out and said, come on now, boys,

00:06:50.490 --> 00:06:51.680
this woman's not doing any harm.

00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:53.100
She's only rearing her family.

00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:54.620
They went away, and they came back

00:06:54.620 --> 00:06:56.215
a fortnight later and burned us out.

00:06:56.215 --> 00:06:57.339
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:06:57.339 --> 00:07:00.089
(fire crackling)

00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:03.670
And that was the biggest change of my life,

00:07:03.670 --> 00:07:07.150
from living in a mixed area, where religion wasn't a factor.

00:07:07.150 --> 00:07:09.090
It was poverty, it was work.

00:07:09.090 --> 00:07:11.250
I moved from that end to a Loyalist ghetto

00:07:11.250 --> 00:07:12.990
because it was the only place we could get

00:07:12.990 --> 00:07:14.643
a home, my mum and dad and I.

00:07:16.317 --> 00:07:18.734
(gun firing)

00:07:19.782 --> 00:07:22.240
Then of course we had the shootings and the bombings

00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:24.673
and the killings, and that was real fear.

00:07:25.714 --> 00:07:28.033
(explosion booms)

00:07:28.033 --> 00:07:30.866
(women screaming)

00:07:34.258 --> 00:07:37.091
(explosion booms)

00:07:40.244 --> 00:07:43.077
(people shouting)

00:07:59.685 --> 00:08:02.510
(dramatic synth music)

00:08:02.510 --> 00:08:04.920
-: For us, politicians literally were

00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:09.920
like some other being who kind of wafted in.

00:08:10.840 --> 00:08:12.790
I think, for a lot of young people in particular,

00:08:12.790 --> 00:08:15.780
they really don't realize it was really, really

00:08:15.780 --> 00:08:18.753
a rare woman's face you'd see in a supportive role.

00:08:20.380 --> 00:08:24.160
-: I think when you look back over the sort of tendency

00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.050
to personify things around myself

00:08:28.050 --> 00:08:33.050
or somebody else, you can get a distortion that I was

00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:37.660
the only young woman speaking out, and of course I wasn't.

00:08:37.660 --> 00:08:42.157
If you look at the mass demonstrations, we,

00:08:42.157 --> 00:08:47.157
as women and girls, were there woman to man, as it were.

00:08:47.656 --> 00:08:49.099
(siren wailing)
(engine rumbling)

00:08:49.099 --> 00:08:51.849
(people singing)

00:08:52.688 --> 00:08:54.887
♪ Freedom ♪

00:08:54.887 --> 00:08:59.887
-: The first women who helped me to understand gender

00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:05.020
and feminism were black women because they shared my class.

00:09:05.020 --> 00:09:07.870
They shared my national oppression.

00:09:07.870 --> 00:09:11.870
Sectarianism and racism are bred of the same disease.

00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:14.470
So it was easier for me then to see,

00:09:14.470 --> 00:09:17.320
yeah, I know what these women are talking about.

00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:19.357
We're speaking the same language.

00:09:19.357 --> 00:09:22.050
♪ Freedom, oh, freedom ♪

00:09:22.050 --> 00:09:25.450
-: It's not that you have a clear political ideology

00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:27.350
and a career path.

00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:30.120
It's that you're a part of something that recognizes

00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.980
a need for social change, and then it takes you

00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:38.980
down an increasingly ideological political road.

00:09:39.847 --> 00:09:41.838
(contemplative orchestral music)

00:09:41.838 --> 00:09:46.838
(people shouting)
(people singing)

00:09:59.301 --> 00:10:01.319
(whistle blowing)

00:10:01.319 --> 00:10:03.819
(woman yelps)

00:10:28.436 --> 00:10:31.269
(people cheering)

00:10:38.033 --> 00:10:40.815
(people shouting)

00:10:40.815 --> 00:10:42.779
(whistle screeches)

00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:45.396
(people screaming)

00:10:45.396 --> 00:10:49.353
-: It was an unpleasant environment to grow up in.

00:10:50.830 --> 00:10:52.990
It's hard to explain to my adult sons

00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:54.900
just what life was like back then.

00:10:54.900 --> 00:10:56.960
It was dull, grim, with a threat

00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:58.760
of menace about it all the time.

00:10:58.760 --> 00:11:00.460
And that's just as a middle-class child.

00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:02.480
I wasn't living in an area where the conflict

00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.630
was going on, and it was still pretty grim.

00:11:10.867 --> 00:11:13.570
-: There was a sense, I think, a real physical sense

00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:17.119
of a sickening, a real sickening with it,

00:11:17.119 --> 00:11:19.230
(explosion booms)

00:11:19.230 --> 00:11:21.297
almost like with the same sense of being sickened,

00:11:21.297 --> 00:11:23.460
nearly a hardening 'cause you'd just get

00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:24.750
such a wave of it all the time.

00:11:24.750 --> 00:11:26.250
You can't let it get into you.

00:11:31.160 --> 00:11:35.010
And for women, they were at the bottom of all the ladders,

00:11:35.010 --> 00:11:37.330
of all the agendas, so their needs

00:11:37.330 --> 00:11:40.080
were never even being asked about, nevermind being met.

00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:44.020
-: Women were thrown into the deep end,

00:11:44.020 --> 00:11:46.000
and still they struggled on.

00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.010
Women didn't look for when they would get

00:11:48.010 --> 00:11:49.050
time for themselves.

00:11:49.050 --> 00:11:50.402
It was all about rearing you their family

00:11:50.402 --> 00:11:52.040
and doing what was right and making sure

00:11:52.040 --> 00:11:54.290
their kids weren't in trouble on the streets.

00:11:57.670 --> 00:11:59.840
-: There were deep segregations,

00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.740
and what you really needed to do,

00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:04.950
in a common sense way, was get people into the same room.

00:12:04.950 --> 00:12:07.210
-: I worked for an organization called Women Together.

00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:09.660
Now, I didn't start with Women Together until 1990,

00:12:09.660 --> 00:12:12.190
but Women Together formed in 1970, and it was

00:12:12.190 --> 00:12:14.800
a Protestant and Catholic woman that got together.

00:12:14.800 --> 00:12:17.390
And they got together to try and address

00:12:17.390 --> 00:12:20.073
some of the fear amongst women in communities.

00:12:21.270 --> 00:12:22.810
And they started bringing buses.

00:12:22.810 --> 00:12:24.430
And even in the most difficult times,

00:12:24.430 --> 00:12:26.810
when bombs were going off in Belfast, the buses

00:12:26.810 --> 00:12:28.707
used to weave in and out of Catholic and Protestant areas.

00:12:28.707 --> 00:12:30.350
And for some of the women, that was the only time

00:12:30.350 --> 00:12:31.640
they ever saw any of these areas

00:12:31.640 --> 00:12:33.340
because they were behind peace walls,

00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:36.620
but they all came together to have a conversation together

00:12:36.620 --> 00:12:38.661
about the difficult times that they were experiencing.

00:12:38.661 --> 00:12:41.300
(contemplative synth music)

00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:43.070
-: There was activism going on,

00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:44.860
and not only was there activism going on,

00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:46.920
but there was a big tranche of women

00:12:46.920 --> 00:12:49.740
that had a lot of organizing experience.

00:12:49.740 --> 00:12:54.680
And we had talked from, I suppose, the late '80s

00:12:54.680 --> 00:12:58.690
in terms of saying, politics isn't changing.

00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:01.710
Politics has become the captive

00:13:01.710 --> 00:13:03.950
of the elite, of a political elite,

00:13:03.950 --> 00:13:06.360
almost like it's been professionalized,

00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:07.684
and it doesn't have to be.

00:13:07.684 --> 00:13:08.520
(contemplative synth music)

00:13:08.520 --> 00:13:13.520
(people cheering)
(people applauding)

00:13:29.470 --> 00:13:31.920
-: We had written to political parties

00:13:31.920 --> 00:13:33.730
and the British and Irish governments,

00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:35.880
asking them that, if there were going to be talks,

00:13:35.880 --> 00:13:37.270
that women should be included.

00:13:37.270 --> 00:13:39.490
We actually wrote to the political parties

00:13:39.490 --> 00:13:42.930
about equally selecting women in their delegations,

00:13:42.930 --> 00:13:45.480
women candidates to run for election, as men.

00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.180
We got very few responses.

00:13:47.180 --> 00:13:48.391
-: The establishment just thought,

00:13:48.391 --> 00:13:49.720
well, that's a bunch of women doing stuff.

00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:51.770
We don't even have to pay them attention.

00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.600
It's almost as if we had been operating in parallel worlds.

00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.120
They didn't realize there were active, articulate women

00:13:58.120 --> 00:13:59.630
who were trying to change society.

00:13:59.630 --> 00:14:01.500
It just wasn't on their radar.

00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:03.700
-: Those very women needed to be at the table

00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:06.720
because they had done the peace-building work up 'til now.

00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:09.200
The traditional politicians wouldn't know where to start,

00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.670
so why would you ever have peace talks without the women

00:14:11.670 --> 00:14:14.182
that had been doing it for so many years at the table?

00:14:14.182 --> 00:14:17.349
(dramatic rock music)

00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:23.190
-: I suppose that idea was fermenting

00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.920
in a lot of people's minds, in Monica McWilliams

00:14:25.920 --> 00:14:28.667
and Avila Kilmurray, Bronagh Hinds, people like that.

00:14:28.667 --> 00:14:30.970
And we would have met, discussing,

00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:33.390
I wonder how we could do this.

00:14:33.390 --> 00:14:34.690
The interesting thing about it was,

00:14:34.690 --> 00:14:38.310
in 1996, the government came up

00:14:38.310 --> 00:14:40.800
with this idea about having an election.

00:14:40.800 --> 00:14:44.590
The 10 parties would go to the talks, and being

00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:47.733
from Northern Ireland, we like to talk about talks.

00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:54.150
-: I had written a letter to all of the women's groups

00:14:54.150 --> 00:14:57.260
in Northern Ireland, inviting them to come to a meeting

00:14:57.260 --> 00:15:02.260
to discuss the impending election, and we were overwhelmed

00:15:02.830 --> 00:15:05.630
by the response that we got to that letter.

00:15:05.630 --> 00:15:08.520
The room was jampacked with women

00:15:08.520 --> 00:15:10.410
from all over Northern Ireland.

00:15:12.411 --> 00:15:14.970
(people chattering)

00:15:14.970 --> 00:15:15.810
-: It was electrifying.

00:15:15.810 --> 00:15:17.773
It was a totally new experience.

00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:22.330
They all spoke from their hearts

00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:25.250
with a passion that hit home.

00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:28.672
I realized just how important we could be.

00:15:28.672 --> 00:15:29.620
(people chattering)

00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:32.170
They were actually on the same wavelength

00:15:32.170 --> 00:15:34.610
in terms of what I wanted for my children

00:15:34.610 --> 00:15:38.060
and my family's future, which could've been the child care,

00:15:38.060 --> 00:15:41.450
which could've been about equal pay.

00:15:41.450 --> 00:15:43.220
So the women there felt there should be

00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.760
women at the negotiating table to ensure

00:15:45.760 --> 00:15:48.650
issues like that were not left behind.

00:15:48.650 --> 00:15:49.990
-: People were suggesting that we do

00:15:49.990 --> 00:15:53.290
a voter education campaign, people were suggesting

00:15:53.290 --> 00:15:55.060
that we support women candidates

00:15:55.060 --> 00:15:56.960
in other parties, and then we had

00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.915
this proposal about starting a women's party.

00:16:00.915 --> 00:16:04.330
(contemplative orchestral music)

00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:07.200
-: Avila Kilmurray said, why don't we go out

00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:12.200
and discuss the possibility of running our own party?

00:16:12.790 --> 00:16:16.123
And we realized that the logistics were possible.

00:16:20.035 --> 00:16:21.640
-: The British and Irish governments opened

00:16:21.640 --> 00:16:25.390
a period of consultation as to the type of electoral process

00:16:25.390 --> 00:16:27.213
to determine delegates for talks.

00:16:28.611 --> 00:16:29.850
I mean, there has to be a crazy reason,

00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:32.300
and the crazy reason was to get political parties

00:16:32.300 --> 00:16:34.570
who had an association with paramilitary groups

00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:36.830
to enable them to legitimately enter the talks.

00:16:36.830 --> 00:16:38.400
I mean, we were very clear.

00:16:38.400 --> 00:16:39.640
It wasn't that they wanted women

00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:41.460
in the talks, but that was the reason why.

00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:43.630
But we thought, okay, that's what they want to get

00:16:43.630 --> 00:16:47.003
in the talks, but we can make use of this, as well.

00:16:48.660 --> 00:16:52.770
We asked an academic, how many votes do you need to get

00:16:52.770 --> 00:16:54.623
two representatives at the talks?

00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:58.540
And he said something ridiculously low,

00:16:58.540 --> 00:17:02.363
like 8,000, 10,000 votes, something like that.

00:17:03.925 --> 00:17:06.270
I just remember we all looked at each other

00:17:06.270 --> 00:17:08.923
and kind of went, that's just easy.

00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:11.980
-: It was decided that we would write

00:17:11.980 --> 00:17:14.930
off to the minister at the time, and we asked,

00:17:14.930 --> 00:17:17.910
could we form ourselves into a political party?

00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:18.943
Could we stand?

00:17:19.790 --> 00:17:21.220
And the letter came back and said yes.

00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:23.820
We had six weeks to form the Women's Coalition,

00:17:23.820 --> 00:17:26.029
and it was the craziest six weeks of my life.

00:17:26.029 --> 00:17:27.858
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:17:27.858 --> 00:17:30.858
(people chattering)

00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.740
-: It was a very vibrant meeting.

00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:38.010
What was good about it was

00:17:38.010 --> 00:17:40.840
the range of people that had turned up.

00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:44.945
It was a meeting of very active, very political women.

00:17:44.945 --> 00:17:48.612
(contemplative synth music)

00:17:50.062 --> 00:17:55.062
The story of the Women's Coalition is largely not visible.

00:17:55.100 --> 00:17:58.040
Not because women get written out of history,

00:17:58.040 --> 00:17:59.403
they never get written in.

00:18:04.090 --> 00:18:07.500
It could be argued the Women's Coalition were of their time,

00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:11.820
but the women who made up the Women's Coalition

00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:14.880
were brave women in their own right,

00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:19.563
whose bravery was tested in the war days.

00:18:21.130 --> 00:18:23.060
So they weren't women who suddenly

00:18:23.060 --> 00:18:26.273
got brave at the time of the peace.

00:18:28.470 --> 00:18:31.440
The truth of the matter is women were politically active

00:18:32.340 --> 00:18:35.473
in every aspect of the politics that were going on.

00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:41.300
It's not that women weren't doing anything

00:18:41.300 --> 00:18:44.870
until the Women's Coalition galvanized women.

00:18:44.870 --> 00:18:47.340
What the Women's Coalition galvanized

00:18:47.340 --> 00:18:51.240
was many of the already politically-active women

00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:54.933
in all our various spheres.

00:18:59.050 --> 00:19:01.010
-: I always remember May Blood actually saying,

00:19:01.010 --> 00:19:02.960
right, I will pay for an ad,

00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.270
and we will ask women who subscribe

00:19:06.270 --> 00:19:07.990
to the three principles that we came up with.

00:19:07.990 --> 00:19:10.120
There are often party policies.

00:19:10.120 --> 00:19:12.062
We had three principles, and that was

00:19:12.062 --> 00:19:14.870
equality, human rights, and inclusion.

00:19:14.870 --> 00:19:18.080
So, if you subscribe to these principles and are happy

00:19:18.080 --> 00:19:22.062
to stand for the coalition, get in touch with us, so we did!

00:19:22.062 --> 00:19:23.908
(people applauding)

00:19:23.908 --> 00:19:26.600
-: As you can see from the constituency list here, we had--

00:19:26.600 --> 00:19:27.667
-: We didn't know how many would turn up,

00:19:27.667 --> 00:19:29.960
and there wasn't enough seats,

00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.150
and we knew we had made the right decision

00:19:32.150 --> 00:19:35.050
by advertising it and by putting it out there.

00:19:35.050 --> 00:19:37.410
If you want this opportunity to put women

00:19:37.410 --> 00:19:39.426
into the mix, this is your opportunity.

00:19:39.426 --> 00:19:41.620
-: It's good to have names against areas.

00:19:41.620 --> 00:19:43.631
What we need tonight is the names.

00:19:43.631 --> 00:19:45.207
(contemplative piano music)

00:19:45.207 --> 00:19:48.120
-: But women were going, oh, oh, I couldn't possibly run.

00:19:48.120 --> 00:19:49.970
And I said, look, you're not gonna get elected,

00:19:49.970 --> 00:19:52.880
but we do want you to run 'cause we need the votes.

00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.950
We just said to people, it's not rocket science.

00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:58.790
Politicians would like you to think it is rocket science.

00:19:58.790 --> 00:19:59.763
It is not.

00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:02.280
-: I think many women didn't really

00:20:02.280 --> 00:20:04.200
want to put themselves forward.

00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:06.997
It took a lot of courage, a lot of determination,

00:20:06.997 --> 00:20:10.990
and a lot of having to expose your own identity

00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:14.720
in a society where identity was

00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:19.037
so closely linked with trouble, with violence, with danger.

00:20:20.130 --> 00:20:23.690
-: These were women from working-class areas who had suffered

00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:27.023
through 30 years or 25 or whatever it was then of conflict.

00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.340
Many women in that room had been bereaved

00:20:31.340 --> 00:20:34.603
or had sons, brothers, fathers in prison.

00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:37.450
And we needed to make sure that we were there

00:20:37.450 --> 00:20:39.100
to try and bring about the change

00:20:39.100 --> 00:20:40.860
that was needed to move the society forward.

00:20:40.860 --> 00:20:44.760
So, without thinking of the consequences,

00:20:44.760 --> 00:20:46.350
people put their hands up.

00:20:46.350 --> 00:20:48.430
-: Margaret Log will do Foyle.

00:20:48.430 --> 00:20:50.840
So you're prepared to let your name go forward?

00:20:50.840 --> 00:20:52.501
Keep going, folks.

00:20:52.501 --> 00:20:54.810
-: Could we have somebody instead of Ann McCann?

00:20:54.810 --> 00:20:58.224
-: Carol, could you find somebody if it's not yourself?

00:20:58.224 --> 00:21:00.462
-: I can find it, yeah.
(people chattering)

00:21:00.462 --> 00:21:04.130
-: I just found an irresistible urge

00:21:04.130 --> 00:21:08.063
to put my hand up and say, yes, I am in there.

00:21:11.120 --> 00:21:13.860
I'd never been in a political party before in my life.

00:21:13.860 --> 00:21:15.820
It wasn't politics.

00:21:15.820 --> 00:21:18.420
It was peace that I wanted.

00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:19.982
-: You don't know this, but tonight,

00:21:19.982 --> 00:21:22.166
we have accrued 48 candidates.

00:21:22.166 --> 00:21:23.810
(people applauding)
(people cheering)

00:21:23.810 --> 00:21:27.300
-: We all got carried away, but this was about our lives,

00:21:27.300 --> 00:21:30.030
our futures, the futures of our children.

00:21:30.030 --> 00:21:31.450
It was brilliant.

00:21:31.450 --> 00:21:33.500
They were all so enthusiastic.

00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:35.597
It just took your breath away.

00:21:35.597 --> 00:21:38.685
(phone rings)

00:21:38.685 --> 00:21:40.796
-: Hello, Northern Ireland Women's Coalition.

00:21:40.796 --> 00:21:41.920
(people chattering)

00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:46.260
-: So we modeled it that it would be a cross-community party,

00:21:46.260 --> 00:21:47.820
and we would have two leaders,

00:21:47.820 --> 00:21:50.060
one from the Catholic Nationalist community,

00:21:50.060 --> 00:21:52.090
one from the Protestant Unionist community,

00:21:52.090 --> 00:21:53.350
from the word go.

00:21:53.350 --> 00:21:57.700
-: To my shock, horror, panic, my name

00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:01.030
and Monica's name were the two names that went forward.

00:22:01.030 --> 00:22:02.930
I went to a second meeting and I agreed,

00:22:02.930 --> 00:22:06.740
thinking, oh, (scoffs) no worries, it ain't gonna happen.

00:22:06.740 --> 00:22:08.310
-: To many people in the room, Pearl Sagar

00:22:08.310 --> 00:22:10.530
probably wouldn't have been a name.

00:22:10.530 --> 00:22:12.280
Pearl was a community worker, but then there was

00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:13.940
hundreds of community workers.

00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:15.880
Monica was a professional woman.

00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:17.940
Monica was a lecturer in university.

00:22:17.940 --> 00:22:20.110
Monica would've been very well-known,

00:22:20.110 --> 00:22:23.060
but I just thought Pearl was a street fighter like myself,

00:22:23.060 --> 00:22:25.050
and she wasn't gonna take no nonsense,

00:22:25.050 --> 00:22:26.223
and that's what we wanted.

00:22:26.223 --> 00:22:29.760
(intense synth music)

00:22:29.760 --> 00:22:31.790
-: A lot of people were frightened over the years

00:22:31.790 --> 00:22:35.170
to stand up and speak out, and who can blame them?

00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:39.120
You'd need to have been mad to put yourself forward.

00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:41.070
In the Women's Coalition, I think I was mad enough

00:22:41.070 --> 00:22:44.163
to do that, so was Monica and a lot of our members.

00:22:48.310 --> 00:22:52.163
-: So we went, at the very last moment, to put in the names.

00:22:53.990 --> 00:22:56.120
We left the office at about a quarter past four.

00:22:56.120 --> 00:23:01.000
The closing was five o'clock, and we ran into a traffic jam.

00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:01.980
Man: Right, we'll just wait with fingers crossed.

00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.183
-: Hopefully, this lady arrives.

00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:08.460
If she doesn't, I'm telling you. (chuckles)

00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:10.265
You're not filming me cutting my throat, are you?

00:23:10.265 --> 00:23:13.310
(all laughing)

00:23:13.310 --> 00:23:15.530
Reporter: The Women's Coalition were the last to nominate

00:23:15.530 --> 00:23:17.210
their candidates for the election,

00:23:17.210 --> 00:23:20.090
just minutes ahead of the five-o'clock deadline.

00:23:20.090 --> 00:23:20.923
-: You're late.

00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.210
-: The press conference has been called

00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:28.890
this morning to launch our manifesto,

00:23:28.890 --> 00:23:31.733
the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition manifesto.

00:23:33.510 --> 00:23:36.980
-: On one level, it was completely chaotic,

00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:40.463
but on another level, it just worked.

00:23:41.300 --> 00:23:45.780
We knew we had energy, we had experience,

00:23:45.780 --> 00:23:48.010
we had expertise, and we had a lot of attitude.

00:23:48.010 --> 00:23:49.280
-: The Women's Coalition is interested

00:23:49.280 --> 00:23:51.260
in a solution in reaching an accommodation

00:23:51.260 --> 00:23:53.300
so that we all can move forward, and we will be

00:23:53.300 --> 00:23:55.471
proved correct when we go to the polls on May the 30th.

00:23:55.471 --> 00:23:59.930
-: Hear, hear!
(people applauding)

00:23:59.930 --> 00:24:02.240
-: Remember, we had no money and we had

00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.990
the most pathetic of posters, and they would be

00:24:04.990 --> 00:24:07.490
the first to fall down in the rain, but women were

00:24:07.490 --> 00:24:09.840
back out again the next day putting them back up.

00:24:09.840 --> 00:24:12.650
The slogan was, Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs.

00:24:12.650 --> 00:24:15.340
-: And it was a cartoon dinosaur superimposed

00:24:15.340 --> 00:24:16.920
on the women's suffragette colors,

00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:19.220
the green, white, and violet.

00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:21.050
Give women the vote.

00:24:21.050 --> 00:24:23.720
But a lot of the male politicians came back

00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:25.950
and said, well, we're really annoyed.

00:24:25.950 --> 00:24:27.470
They're calling us dinosaurs.

00:24:27.470 --> 00:24:29.020
Well, we didn't call you a dinosaur,

00:24:29.020 --> 00:24:30.820
but if you want to self-identify,

00:24:30.820 --> 00:24:32.526
please don't let us stand in your way.

00:24:32.526 --> 00:24:36.090
(reflective piano and synth music)

00:24:36.090 --> 00:24:38.900
-: It was quite obvious that the traditional parties had

00:24:38.900 --> 00:24:41.810
no intention of bringing forward women.

00:24:41.810 --> 00:24:42.860
They just weren't going to do it.

00:24:42.860 --> 00:24:44.320
I mean, it's about power.

00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:46.120
These guys, this was their big chance.

00:24:46.120 --> 00:24:48.440
They'd been sluggin' it out in local councils,

00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:51.220
fighting over bins for 25 or 30 years.

00:24:51.220 --> 00:24:52.410
This was their big chance,

00:24:52.410 --> 00:24:54.493
and they weren't gonna share it with anybody.

00:25:04.080 --> 00:25:06.290
Woman: Women's Coalition are standing in this area.

00:25:06.290 --> 00:25:08.524
Come out, give your vote to make a difference.

00:25:08.524 --> 00:25:10.710
-: Well, do you know, a group of women campaigning was

00:25:10.710 --> 00:25:14.250
a bit of a joke, so it was something to be laughed at.

00:25:14.250 --> 00:25:18.440
I do remember this idea of go back to your kitchen

00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.573
and the Hen Party and all this kind of nonsense.

00:25:22.610 --> 00:25:25.850
And that view started to come very clear

00:25:25.850 --> 00:25:29.690
when we got to the stage of trying to actually seek votes.

00:25:29.690 --> 00:25:31.600
That's when things did become hostile.

00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:33.050
-: Some got death threats.

00:25:33.050 --> 00:25:34.470
Some were told, how dare you?

00:25:34.470 --> 00:25:35.350
Some didn't.

00:25:35.350 --> 00:25:37.040
Some, in the beginning, couldn't even say

00:25:37.040 --> 00:25:38.810
that they were involved.

00:25:38.810 --> 00:25:41.370
-: My family were saying, oh, yes, I suppose

00:25:41.370 --> 00:25:44.340
this has to be done, but does it have to be you?

00:25:44.340 --> 00:25:48.390
Yeah, there were scary moments but there's a sense,

00:25:48.390 --> 00:25:50.090
actually, of freedom in facing it.

00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:52.770
-: I wouldn't vote for a woman

00:25:52.770 --> 00:25:55.520
under any circumstances, a daft question.

00:25:55.520 --> 00:25:56.353
-: Hello.
-: Hello.

00:25:56.353 --> 00:25:57.359
-: Hello there.

00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:58.660
-: They aren't representative

00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:01.610
of the decent Ulster women that I speak to.

00:26:01.610 --> 00:26:04.300
The Ulster woman in the past has seen herself very much

00:26:04.300 --> 00:26:06.350
as being in support of her man.

00:26:06.350 --> 00:26:08.680
As far as those individuals representing

00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:11.160
the Women's Coalition is concerned, I think

00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:14.060
that people will draw their own conclusions by the fact

00:26:14.060 --> 00:26:16.540
that they're prepared to come out of the closet now.

00:26:16.540 --> 00:26:18.840
-: Political parties and groupings should be

00:26:18.840 --> 00:26:21.140
regarded as people on their merits,

00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:23.110
on the vision that they will bring to politics,

00:26:23.110 --> 00:26:25.220
the commitment they will bring to politics,

00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:26.750
not just because they're men

00:26:26.750 --> 00:26:28.290
or not just because they're women.

00:26:28.290 --> 00:26:31.290
-: I do have some dubious thoughts about how they, (laughs)

00:26:31.290 --> 00:26:34.410
as a cross-community group, can look at this election

00:26:34.410 --> 00:26:38.227
and have a policy that is at all rational.

00:26:38.227 --> 00:26:40.470
(contemplative organ music)

00:26:40.470 --> 00:26:42.010
-: Well, I know there's criticism at the minute

00:26:42.010 --> 00:26:43.780
that women are gonna look foolish

00:26:43.780 --> 00:26:46.750
if this doesn't come off, and that's very unfortunate.

00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:49.700
I don't feel we will look foolish, even if we didn't get in.

00:26:49.700 --> 00:26:52.400
We've learned over the last 25 years how to cope

00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.510
with setbacks and different ceasefires breaking down,

00:26:55.510 --> 00:26:57.480
and I think we'll cope very, very well

00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:59.180
'cause, as women, we generally do.

00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:06.150
-: Women are 52% of the population in Northern Ireland.

00:27:06.150 --> 00:27:08.500
We have a right to be at the talks table.

00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:10.230
It's our futures being talked about,

00:27:10.230 --> 00:27:11.850
and it shouldn't be talked about solely by men.

00:27:11.850 --> 00:27:12.870
Man: Oh no, I agree.

00:27:12.870 --> 00:27:14.170
-: Do we realize what's happening here?

00:27:14.170 --> 00:27:18.288
The future of this part of the world is going to be decided

00:27:18.288 --> 00:27:19.710
and there are gonna be no women there.

00:27:19.710 --> 00:27:21.753
We're gonna be outside minding the kids.

00:27:26.390 --> 00:27:28.200
-: This is actually historic.

00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.010
Have you ever in Northern Ireland seen

00:27:30.010 --> 00:27:33.560
a group of all shades of political color sitting

00:27:33.560 --> 00:27:36.790
in one place at one time, all ready to talk to each other?

00:27:36.790 --> 00:27:39.230
It's like a microcosm of what should be happening

00:27:39.230 --> 00:27:41.286
in Northern Ireland, and the women are showing it.

00:27:41.286 --> 00:27:44.474
(people applauding)
(people cheering)

00:27:44.474 --> 00:27:47.807
(haunting choral music)

00:27:50.175 --> 00:27:53.842
(contemplative synth music)

00:27:57.930 --> 00:28:01.450
-: Getting elected was unbelievable,

00:28:01.450 --> 00:28:05.910
that, for the first time, there were women going to be there

00:28:05.910 --> 00:28:08.810
as a political party, as a Women's Party in its own right.

00:28:10.810 --> 00:28:13.530
-: Even then, it didn't quite sink in.

00:28:13.530 --> 00:28:17.600
The two people were only gonna be me and Monica.

00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:19.450
Even though we had loads of women behind us,

00:28:19.450 --> 00:28:22.810
always had, and brilliant women, at the end of the day,

00:28:22.810 --> 00:28:25.003
you are the two people sat at that table.

00:28:58.450 --> 00:29:00.630
-: On the first day of the negotiations,

00:29:00.630 --> 00:29:05.630
I told the delegates to the talks representing

00:29:05.710 --> 00:29:07.860
10 political parties in Northern Ireland

00:29:07.860 --> 00:29:09.760
and the British and Irish governments

00:29:10.740 --> 00:29:15.623
that I did not come with an American-drafted agreement.

00:29:16.840 --> 00:29:19.460
If there were ever to be an agreement,

00:29:19.460 --> 00:29:20.870
it had to come from them.

00:29:20.870 --> 00:29:22.883
They had to have a sense of ownership.

00:29:24.583 --> 00:29:26.010
-: And the first days were difficult.

00:29:26.010 --> 00:29:27.230
People wouldn't talk to one another,

00:29:27.230 --> 00:29:29.600
and if somebody said something, then somebody would leave

00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:32.480
because they weren't open to hearing one another either.

00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:34.380
If we're talking about peace negotiations to create

00:29:34.380 --> 00:29:36.080
a society where people aren't going to feel

00:29:36.080 --> 00:29:39.200
so driven into a corner that they actually have to lift

00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:42.570
a gun and shoot somebody, then there's change needed.

00:29:42.570 --> 00:29:46.363
And peace is people choosing to live differently.

00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:58.010
-: One of the things I find very strange as a woman,

00:29:58.010 --> 00:30:00.790
when you go into a meeting, there's almost a reluctance

00:30:00.790 --> 00:30:02.850
to say anything confidential because you're a woman

00:30:02.850 --> 00:30:04.610
and you're gonna go out and tell everybody it.

00:30:04.610 --> 00:30:07.070
You have to build that respect up.

00:30:07.070 --> 00:30:10.610
We knew within the women's movement that we could work.

00:30:10.610 --> 00:30:12.800
We had to prove to the other parties

00:30:12.800 --> 00:30:14.430
that it wasn't about sitting around a table

00:30:14.430 --> 00:30:15.990
and just talking about women's issues.

00:30:15.990 --> 00:30:19.510
It was about basic human rights issues

00:30:19.510 --> 00:30:20.890
for the whole of Northern Ireland.

00:30:20.890 --> 00:30:23.780
-: Because we weren't coming from that class

00:30:23.780 --> 00:30:25.370
of professional politicians,

00:30:25.370 --> 00:30:27.393
we were seen very much as outsiders.

00:30:28.270 --> 00:30:31.431
We were seen as the girls or the little women sort of thing.

00:30:31.431 --> 00:30:35.716
(contemplative piano music)

00:30:35.716 --> 00:30:38.710
-: You might as well discuss with Hitler

00:30:38.710 --> 00:30:42.820
about the annihilation of Jews than discuss

00:30:42.820 --> 00:30:47.690
with southern Ireland the way forward for Northern Ireland.

00:30:47.690 --> 00:30:49.310
-: Would Mr. Paisley not consider

00:30:49.310 --> 00:30:54.310
that an objectionable remark, to compare Hitler and fascism

00:30:54.320 --> 00:30:56.874
with the government of the Republic of Ireland currently?

00:30:56.874 --> 00:30:57.707
(people laughing)

00:30:57.707 --> 00:31:00.680
-: My reply to you is, certainly not,

00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.450
and I don't know where the honorable lady has been living,

00:31:03.450 --> 00:31:05.990
in some cuckoo land of her own.

00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.090
-: Very kind of derogatory comments would fly across,

00:31:12.090 --> 00:31:15.653
go home, breed for Ulster, stand by your men,

00:31:17.310 --> 00:31:18.703
Greek chorus of women.

00:31:20.120 --> 00:31:23.300
And individually, they would moo and boo

00:31:23.300 --> 00:31:24.990
when we would stand up to speak.

00:31:24.990 --> 00:31:26.340
Good sir, please--

00:31:26.340 --> 00:31:29.142
-: Oh, sit down and stop wasting time.

00:31:29.142 --> 00:31:31.860
You're only wasting time.

00:31:31.860 --> 00:31:34.960
-: Maybe they weren't used to women standing up,

00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:37.830
intelligent women even, standing up,

00:31:37.830 --> 00:31:40.963
saying things that were obvious and sensible.

00:31:43.100 --> 00:31:45.150
I suppose that made it worth fighting for

00:31:45.150 --> 00:31:46.780
because you just thought, why should anybody

00:31:46.780 --> 00:31:48.940
put up with this absolute rubbish?

00:31:48.940 --> 00:31:50.850
-: There seemed to be no embarrassment

00:31:50.850 --> 00:31:55.240
about holding such views or using such language.

00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:58.420
But I think what passed for politics in Northern Ireland

00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:01.270
was quite coarse, which is why possibly there were

00:32:01.270 --> 00:32:06.013
so few women because it was tribal, aggressive, and bigoted.

00:32:07.420 --> 00:32:10.120
-: We made an attempt, mainly purposely for the purpose

00:32:10.120 --> 00:32:12.540
of the peace talks, to come into the mainstream,

00:32:12.540 --> 00:32:14.250
and in fact, many would probably say

00:32:14.250 --> 00:32:16.590
that the mainstream are trying to expel us again,

00:32:16.590 --> 00:32:19.140
to silence us, not to allow us to have a voice,

00:32:19.140 --> 00:32:21.400
to demean us, to treat us in a derogatory fashion,

00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:23.510
and to send us back to the margins.

00:32:23.510 --> 00:32:25.440
But I think those days are over in Northern Ireland.

00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:26.830
Women do have something to say.

00:32:26.830 --> 00:32:28.780
-: I don't know who the lady is.

00:32:28.780 --> 00:32:31.835
She's not even a delegate, yet she speaks--

00:32:31.835 --> 00:32:33.560
-: Excuse me, I am one of the representatives

00:32:33.560 --> 00:32:34.430
of the Women's Coalition.

00:32:34.430 --> 00:32:36.825
Dr. Paisley knows that very well.

00:32:36.825 --> 00:32:38.277
-: She is not a delegate.

00:32:38.277 --> 00:32:40.632
She has no voting powers whatsoever.

00:32:40.632 --> 00:32:42.850
Well, she knows that.

00:32:42.850 --> 00:32:47.190
-: I always assumed that all these politicians worked

00:32:47.190 --> 00:32:49.523
to make sure I had a better life,

00:32:50.430 --> 00:32:53.003
and that they sat down and they done it wisely.

00:32:54.270 --> 00:32:57.510
However, a lot of them live in a bubble.

00:32:57.510 --> 00:32:59.937
I think, for several months, I sat

00:32:59.937 --> 00:33:02.320
and I thought, people behave this way?

00:33:02.320 --> 00:33:04.083
These are intelligent people?

00:33:05.407 --> 00:33:07.030
I mean, I went to one business meeting

00:33:07.030 --> 00:33:09.520
that I was told that I was just dragged

00:33:09.520 --> 00:33:12.673
off the streets and I shouldn't be there.

00:33:13.530 --> 00:33:16.340
-: Oh, you girls, you don't understand politics.

00:33:16.340 --> 00:33:17.900
You don't know what's going on.

00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:20.350
This is politics, this is politics.

00:33:20.350 --> 00:33:23.560
And we kept saying, this is not politics.

00:33:23.560 --> 00:33:25.620
This is abnormal politics.

00:33:25.620 --> 00:33:29.240
This is unacceptable politics, and we're not putting up

00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.730
with that kind of behavior and language.

00:33:32.730 --> 00:33:35.490
-: In a way, the horror of what was possible

00:33:35.490 --> 00:33:37.870
and what was starting to be inflicted

00:33:37.870 --> 00:33:39.601
was getting worse during the talks.

00:33:39.601 --> 00:33:40.501
(dramatic electric guitar and synth music)

00:33:40.501 --> 00:33:44.596
(engine rumbling)
(people shouting)

00:33:44.596 --> 00:33:47.763
(rhythmic drum music)

00:33:51.497 --> 00:33:54.330
(explosion booms)

00:33:59.970 --> 00:34:02.250
-: First year, Sinn Fein were not there.

00:34:02.250 --> 00:34:05.670
We spent the entire year meeting with them

00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:07.910
outside of the process in back channels.

00:34:07.910 --> 00:34:09.720
-: Nobody wanted Sinn Fein at the table.

00:34:09.720 --> 00:34:11.833
The IRA were still killing people.

00:34:13.104 --> 00:34:16.170
Who wants killers sitting at the table?

00:34:16.170 --> 00:34:21.020
And we went to meet Sinn Fein, and Monica and all was fine.

00:34:21.020 --> 00:34:22.320
I struggled.

00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:24.140
I sat down in this room with people

00:34:24.140 --> 00:34:25.963
that I hated, and I mean hated.

00:34:29.630 --> 00:34:32.330
I hated them because I did marry a British soldier.

00:34:32.330 --> 00:34:36.403
My husband was in that army that they hated.

00:34:36.403 --> 00:34:37.920
(contemplative synth music)

00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:39.360
Plus, in the interim, I had a cousin

00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:41.270
who was a police officer who was

00:34:41.270 --> 00:34:43.886
gunned down in front of his children.

00:34:43.886 --> 00:34:45.400
(people cheering)
(people applauding)

00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:48.030
They were representing the people that killed them.

00:34:48.030 --> 00:34:49.253
And I remember sitting in that room,

00:34:49.253 --> 00:34:52.350
and I'm not even sure what they were saying that day

00:34:52.350 --> 00:34:55.240
'cause all's I could hear was my heartbeat

00:34:55.240 --> 00:34:58.653
in me eardrums, and it was horrible.

00:35:00.540 --> 00:35:03.870
I couldn't even tell Monica and others

00:35:03.870 --> 00:35:06.513
because they're from that religion.

00:35:08.090 --> 00:35:12.160
I didn't know them that well, so I was afraid and ashamed

00:35:12.160 --> 00:35:16.690
at the same time to tell them how I truly felt.

00:35:16.690 --> 00:35:19.690
And I remember talking to my husband and my husband saying,

00:35:19.690 --> 00:35:21.383
he was a better person than me,

00:35:22.327 --> 00:35:24.127
"At the end of the day, Pearl,

00:35:24.127 --> 00:35:25.607
"if you want everybody involved,

00:35:25.607 --> 00:35:27.207
"everybody has to be involved.

00:35:27.207 --> 00:35:28.867
"There's always gonna be people you don't like

00:35:28.867 --> 00:35:30.860
"in the world, but you do have to work with them.

00:35:30.860 --> 00:35:33.430
"Nobody's asking you to sleep with them."

00:35:33.430 --> 00:35:35.480
And I mean, that's as blunt as he put it.

00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:39.530
-: And then, when the Loyalists came,

00:35:39.530 --> 00:35:42.100
I remember us making a point of reaching out to them

00:35:42.100 --> 00:35:44.950
and inviting them to our houses and having dinner with them

00:35:44.950 --> 00:35:47.670
because we didn't know them very well.

00:35:47.670 --> 00:35:49.510
If you're going to be in peace talks,

00:35:49.510 --> 00:35:53.350
you need to build strong relationships with the people.

00:35:53.350 --> 00:35:54.620
You need to look them in the eye.

00:35:54.620 --> 00:35:56.610
You need to see the humanity in the person.

00:35:56.610 --> 00:35:58.270
You need to give them some legitimacy,

00:35:58.270 --> 00:36:00.280
even if you disagree with them,

00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:02.846
all of the things that generally doesn't happen.

00:36:02.846 --> 00:36:06.400
(contemplative synth music)

00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:08.160
We often said at the table,

00:36:08.160 --> 00:36:11.230
there's no single party has created this problem.

00:36:11.230 --> 00:36:12.700
We all have.

00:36:12.700 --> 00:36:15.943
And therefore we all have it on us to resolve it.

00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:19.210
-: We had a very good grasp on how to make

00:36:19.210 --> 00:36:22.400
a facilitated and mediated process work,

00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:24.963
so that became part of our agenda,

00:36:26.010 --> 00:36:31.010
in making the dynamic of the talks work and in finding

00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:35.090
a pathway through for Senator Mitchell,

00:36:35.090 --> 00:36:37.233
as the mediator, to use.

00:36:40.090 --> 00:36:43.760
-: The Women's Coalition, in particular,

00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.920
was focused on reaching an agreement,

00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.310
as opposed to focused on, can I get this for my community?

00:36:50.310 --> 00:36:51.253
Can I get that?

00:36:53.410 --> 00:36:56.610
They understood their role to be

00:36:56.610 --> 00:37:01.410
to help bring about peace, more than just advancing

00:37:01.410 --> 00:37:04.363
the cause of one community or another.

00:37:06.945 --> 00:37:10.300
(reflective synth music)

00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:12.720
-: They brought to that table

00:37:12.720 --> 00:37:16.120
their previous individual experience.

00:37:16.120 --> 00:37:20.588
It's a traditional woman's role, keeping the peace

00:37:20.588 --> 00:37:23.583
and encouraging people to go the extra mile.

00:37:25.210 --> 00:37:29.477
Because women are better conflict-resolvers,

00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:34.900
not biologically, but because that's where we have

00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:38.513
traditionally been located in society.

00:37:40.740 --> 00:37:43.593
We sort out the problems between siblings.

00:37:44.850 --> 00:37:48.333
We sort out the women across the street.

00:37:49.910 --> 00:37:52.250
And so the Women's Coalition were

00:37:52.250 --> 00:37:56.089
the most experienced peace negotiators in the room.

00:37:56.089 --> 00:38:00.260
(reflective orchestral music)

00:38:00.260 --> 00:38:03.870
And it's a seductive role to be drawn into it

00:38:03.870 --> 00:38:07.043
and to have that role validated.

00:38:09.580 --> 00:38:13.660
But when you have made that courageous step,

00:38:13.660 --> 00:38:17.950
it was a pity that they got sidelined,

00:38:17.950 --> 00:38:22.640
from a feminist perspective, into the traditional role

00:38:22.640 --> 00:38:25.636
of refereeing a fight between two men.

00:38:25.636 --> 00:38:29.719
(contemplative orchestral music)

00:38:48.470 --> 00:38:51.360
-: The fact is that IRA Sinn Fein

00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:54.393
has bombed its way to the negotiating table.

00:38:55.900 --> 00:38:57.550
-: This has gone on for too long.

00:38:57.550 --> 00:38:59.627
This nonsense of jumping in in the room,

00:38:59.627 --> 00:39:00.710
coming back into the room.

00:39:00.710 --> 00:39:03.550
It is boys playing war, and I'm angry about it.

00:39:03.550 --> 00:39:05.560
Why is it that the victims in this country

00:39:05.560 --> 00:39:09.460
can always make the step forward and say, let's talk?

00:39:09.460 --> 00:39:10.340
Our people are dead.

00:39:10.340 --> 00:39:11.173
They're in their graves.

00:39:11.173 --> 00:39:12.320
They're not coming back.

00:39:17.710 --> 00:39:21.300
-: I got a call, sitting in my office, and it was

00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:24.570
a member of the President's National Security Staff,

00:39:24.570 --> 00:39:26.983
saying, we just goofed up.

00:39:28.830 --> 00:39:33.050
He went on to explain that the President had met separately

00:39:33.050 --> 00:39:35.640
with all of the political party representatives

00:39:35.640 --> 00:39:38.540
in his office, in the Oval Office of the White House,

00:39:38.540 --> 00:39:41.603
and somehow they forgot about the Women's Coalition.

00:39:44.240 --> 00:39:48.117
And what this colleague of mine said to me on the phone,

00:39:48.117 --> 00:39:52.837
"Do you think Mrs. Clinton would meet with these women?"

00:39:53.930 --> 00:39:56.750
-: It turned out to be a very consequential,

00:39:56.750 --> 00:39:59.620
unplanned, spontaneous meeting.

00:39:59.620 --> 00:40:03.460
We learned how the promise of women's involvement

00:40:03.460 --> 00:40:05.270
was not being fulfilled.

00:40:05.270 --> 00:40:07.540
We wanted to boost their spirits

00:40:07.540 --> 00:40:12.160
and give them kind of a new burst of energy to go back

00:40:12.160 --> 00:40:15.620
and take on the obstacles they faced.

00:40:15.620 --> 00:40:18.357
-: Monica asks the First Lady,

00:40:18.357 --> 00:40:20.260
"Are you going to speak tonight?"

00:40:20.260 --> 00:40:22.660
And tonight was this big gathering

00:40:22.660 --> 00:40:25.570
with all of these visiting politicians

00:40:25.570 --> 00:40:28.577
from Northern Ireland, and Hillary said,

00:40:28.577 --> 00:40:32.320
"Well, I'll probably introduce the President."

00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:36.630
-: I want to formally, on behalf of the President and myself,

00:40:36.630 --> 00:40:39.170
welcome all of you here this evening.

00:40:39.170 --> 00:40:42.500
I knew that if I elevated their participation,

00:40:42.500 --> 00:40:45.580
it could not be ignored as easily.

00:40:45.580 --> 00:40:49.320
I just want to say a special word of appreciation

00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:52.830
to all the women in Ireland and Northern Ireland

00:40:52.830 --> 00:40:55.750
who have worked for peace and worked to bring about

00:40:55.750 --> 00:40:58.603
reconciliation over so many years.

00:40:58.603 --> 00:40:59.550
(people applauding)

00:40:59.550 --> 00:41:02.550
When I was in that room, I reiterated

00:41:02.550 --> 00:41:04.720
the importance of having women's voices,

00:41:04.720 --> 00:41:09.720
talked about receiving Monica and Pearl at the White House,

00:41:09.890 --> 00:41:13.570
and basically sent a message that we expected them

00:41:13.570 --> 00:41:16.592
to be treated respectfully and seriously.

00:41:16.592 --> 00:41:18.680
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:41:18.680 --> 00:41:20.630
-: I looked around the room and I could see

00:41:20.630 --> 00:41:23.760
that they were listening to her in total silence.

00:41:23.760 --> 00:41:25.420
It really did embolden us.

00:41:25.420 --> 00:41:28.640
It totally changed everything after that.

00:41:28.640 --> 00:41:30.270
It wasn't planned.

00:41:30.270 --> 00:41:32.220
It was creative.

00:41:32.220 --> 00:41:33.450
It was imaginative.

00:41:33.450 --> 00:41:36.990
It was saying we've had enough of the men talking

00:41:36.990 --> 00:41:39.273
for us, nothing about us, without us.

00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:49.000
-: That was a very slow process, and it was a deadening.

00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:50.910
It was exhausting.

00:41:50.910 --> 00:41:53.060
It was just lengthy talking

00:41:53.060 --> 00:41:55.363
over the same areas much of the time.

00:41:56.310 --> 00:42:00.030
And then, eventually, people got talked out,

00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:02.800
but that doesn't bring about a solution.

00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:05.330
What people had to do ultimately was transcend

00:42:05.330 --> 00:42:08.752
their own tribal base for the greater good.

00:42:08.752 --> 00:42:10.465
(fire roaring)
(people shouting)

00:42:10.465 --> 00:42:12.140
(car banging)
(contemplative synth music)

00:42:12.140 --> 00:42:15.370
-: After we'd been involved in negotiations

00:42:15.370 --> 00:42:18.300
for a year and a half, I recall fearing

00:42:18.300 --> 00:42:21.160
that the process was nearly over.

00:42:21.160 --> 00:42:24.690
I drafted a plan that would establish

00:42:24.690 --> 00:42:27.360
an absolute unbreakable deadline

00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:30.940
because without it, I was quite certain that the process

00:42:30.940 --> 00:42:35.773
was spiraling toward failure, and rapidly.

00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:39.780
-: Within the last hour, Senator George Mitchell has given

00:42:39.780 --> 00:42:42.730
the province's politicians an agenda for a settlement,

00:42:42.730 --> 00:42:45.540
the deadline for which is now only six days away.

00:42:45.540 --> 00:42:47.290
-: We've been at this for two years.

00:42:48.230 --> 00:42:52.530
It could be discussed for another 20 years, and the only way

00:42:52.530 --> 00:42:55.983
to bring this to a conclusion is to require a decision.

00:42:57.550 --> 00:43:00.980
-: Deadlines are generally completely arbitrary,

00:43:00.980 --> 00:43:03.733
but they do work in focusing the mind.

00:43:04.780 --> 00:43:09.703
But when we received the draft agreement, we didn't see

00:43:10.620 --> 00:43:15.500
ourselves either on the pages or between the lines.

00:43:15.500 --> 00:43:17.920
We might have even settled for being between the lines.

00:43:17.920 --> 00:43:21.580
-: We were quite perturbed because some of the parties

00:43:21.580 --> 00:43:25.620
we had bilateral meetings with had agreed to support us.

00:43:25.620 --> 00:43:26.534
They didn't.

00:43:26.534 --> 00:43:29.784
(dramatic synth music)

00:43:36.490 --> 00:43:38.530
-: There was intense pressure.

00:43:38.530 --> 00:43:41.350
There was mass media outside from all over the world,

00:43:41.350 --> 00:43:42.460
who spent their time interviewing

00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:44.240
each other because nobody else was really talking

00:43:44.240 --> 00:43:45.860
to them at that particular point.

00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:49.320
Obviously, sort of Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair,

00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:52.100
and then, of course, we had Clinton

00:43:52.100 --> 00:43:54.443
on the phone from Washington, as well.

00:43:55.890 --> 00:43:58.380
-: I can remember going up to see them

00:43:58.380 --> 00:44:00.993
and the women being very depressed.

00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:05.300
They were being cut out now, and I remember saying

00:44:05.300 --> 00:44:08.060
to a couple of them, we're now talking real politics here,

00:44:08.060 --> 00:44:09.980
and these guys are not going to just let

00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:11.513
other people take positions.

00:44:12.490 --> 00:44:15.530
-: We knew that the pressure was on

00:44:15.530 --> 00:44:19.250
to get the agreement signed while people

00:44:19.250 --> 00:44:22.160
were still convinced for the agreement.

00:44:22.160 --> 00:44:26.280
But we have been here throughout to make the dynamic work,

00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:30.580
to make the process work, to put the partnerships together,

00:44:30.580 --> 00:44:33.810
but we also have an agenda, and we are as deserving

00:44:33.810 --> 00:44:36.170
as having that agenda reached as anybody else.

00:44:36.170 --> 00:44:37.550
-: Yeah, we did what we normally did

00:44:37.550 --> 00:44:39.790
when our backs were to the wall, which was

00:44:39.790 --> 00:44:43.452
basically our default position for the previous two years.

00:44:43.452 --> 00:44:44.800
(dramatic rock music)

00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:48.073
We had a think, we did some writing, we did some drafting.

00:44:49.310 --> 00:44:50.960
The British Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam,

00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:54.020
was a complete star, and because she was

00:44:54.020 --> 00:44:57.720
genuinely interested in what we were doing,

00:44:57.720 --> 00:45:01.070
the kind of policy papers that we were putting forward,

00:45:01.070 --> 00:45:04.920
she saw that they could be of use in the context

00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:08.880
of an overall settlement of a really complex situation.

00:45:08.880 --> 00:45:11.080
-: Did you like the people you were involved with?

00:45:11.080 --> 00:45:14.464
-: I tried not to get involved in liking anybody.

00:45:14.464 --> 00:45:15.297
-: What about Gerry Adams?

00:45:15.297 --> 00:45:16.270
-: But I did like the Women's Coalition.

00:45:16.270 --> 00:45:18.920
I think they made a big effort and were good.

00:45:18.920 --> 00:45:21.130
-: So we're arguing, arguing, arguing,

00:45:21.130 --> 00:45:23.610
looking at texts, going back to George Mitchell,

00:45:23.610 --> 00:45:25.220
going back to the civil servants to say,

00:45:25.220 --> 00:45:28.010
this needs redrafted, this needs looked at again.

00:45:28.010 --> 00:45:30.680
-: There had to be more encouragement, to encourage women

00:45:30.680 --> 00:45:34.310
to be more politically aware, to educate women better

00:45:34.310 --> 00:45:37.343
in terms of politics and be more open.

00:45:39.180 --> 00:45:41.190
In the end, we tried everything.

00:45:41.190 --> 00:45:43.453
We just couldn't get that in.

00:45:44.660 --> 00:45:47.960
So we decided that we would speak to the Secretary of State.

00:45:47.960 --> 00:45:50.120
People were blocking us getting into the office

00:45:50.120 --> 00:45:52.270
for whatever reason, so in the end,

00:45:52.270 --> 00:45:56.160
I waited outside the office, and finally Mo came out

00:45:56.160 --> 00:45:57.790
and she was going to the toilets.

00:45:57.790 --> 00:46:01.050
So I went to the toilets with her, and we did manage

00:46:01.050 --> 00:46:03.150
to get that in to the Good Friday Agreement.

00:46:03.150 --> 00:46:04.710
-: We need to recognize communities

00:46:04.710 --> 00:46:07.890
and community development, so we wrote that in.

00:46:07.890 --> 00:46:11.250
We wanted to get references in to integrated education

00:46:11.250 --> 00:46:14.190
'cause we wanted a holistic community which is not divided

00:46:14.190 --> 00:46:16.570
but which is living and learning together.

00:46:16.570 --> 00:46:18.270
-: We got in about the victims of violence.

00:46:18.270 --> 00:46:19.610
No other party had raised

00:46:19.610 --> 00:46:21.460
victims of violence in the agreement.

00:46:24.870 --> 00:46:28.510
-: It was very hard, though, to get onto the agenda,

00:46:28.510 --> 00:46:33.193
issues that we had specifically wanted.

00:46:36.840 --> 00:46:39.490
And we had gone with two priorities,

00:46:39.490 --> 00:46:42.650
both linked to the inclusion agenda

00:46:42.650 --> 00:46:47.150
and widening participation and a much broader understanding

00:46:47.150 --> 00:46:50.100
of democracy than often political parties,

00:46:50.100 --> 00:46:51.450
and certainly political parties

00:46:51.450 --> 00:46:53.273
in a conflict situation, understand.

00:46:56.100 --> 00:46:58.700
One of them had been on electoral reform,

00:46:58.700 --> 00:47:01.190
and one of it had been the issue that I had been promoting

00:47:01.190 --> 00:47:04.090
for quite some time, which was the issue of a civic forum.

00:47:22.754 --> 00:47:24.560
-: We got a phone call from Martha Pope,

00:47:24.560 --> 00:47:27.060
who was George Mitchell's assistant.

00:47:27.060 --> 00:47:29.447
And Martha said, "You can either have the electoral system

00:47:29.447 --> 00:47:32.674
"or you can have the civic forum in there, which is it?"

00:47:32.674 --> 00:47:34.410
And we said the civic forum.

00:47:34.410 --> 00:47:37.960
-: We haven't got one of our key issues on electoral forum,

00:47:37.960 --> 00:47:39.480
which is actually about changing

00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:41.410
and making this a more democratic place

00:47:41.410 --> 00:47:43.230
in Northern Ireland, changing the politics

00:47:43.230 --> 00:47:45.427
of Northern Ireland and including more women.

00:47:45.427 --> 00:47:49.010
(contemplative rock music)

00:47:50.080 --> 00:47:55.010
Will people look back on us as women and say we faltered

00:47:55.010 --> 00:47:59.813
because we did not stand out for this at the end?

00:48:02.200 --> 00:48:05.090
And then we're saying, how could you not sign

00:48:05.090 --> 00:48:08.293
a peace agreement for your country?

00:48:09.430 --> 00:48:11.420
We have to have the peace.

00:48:11.420 --> 00:48:13.595
It's always a difficult choice.

00:48:13.595 --> 00:48:17.262
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:36.770
-: The agreement that has emerged

00:48:36.770 --> 00:48:40.080
from the Northern Ireland peace talks opens the way

00:48:40.080 --> 00:48:43.100
for the people there to build a society

00:48:43.100 --> 00:48:47.253
based on enduring peace, justice, and equality.

00:49:01.218 --> 00:49:05.330
-: The people in Northern Ireland have always asked and said,

00:49:05.330 --> 00:49:08.350
if only the politicians would sit down together

00:49:08.350 --> 00:49:11.610
and talk and reach an agreement.

00:49:11.610 --> 00:49:14.940
Today, we have done it.

00:49:14.940 --> 00:49:16.900
We have interrupted the culture

00:49:16.900 --> 00:49:18.763
of failure in Northern Ireland.

00:49:19.720 --> 00:49:21.669
There is no going back.

00:49:21.669 --> 00:49:25.919
(reflective piano and synth music)

00:49:30.810 --> 00:49:33.030
-: In the end, there was parity of pain

00:49:33.030 --> 00:49:36.270
and parity of gain on everyone's part.

00:49:36.270 --> 00:49:37.850
Northern Ireland was still going to remain

00:49:37.850 --> 00:49:39.440
as part of the United Kingdom.

00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:42.253
But yet, on the other side, the quid pro quo was

00:49:42.253 --> 00:49:46.820
they were getting a totally reformed Northern Ireland.

00:49:46.820 --> 00:49:48.330
-: And some people left, as you know,

00:49:48.330 --> 00:49:49.550
some people threatened to walk out,

00:49:49.550 --> 00:49:51.970
but the end of the day, we got that agreement.

00:49:51.970 --> 00:49:53.180
And then we put that agreement

00:49:53.180 --> 00:49:55.453
to the people, and the people said yes.

00:50:00.970 --> 00:50:03.623
-: Yes, 71.12%.

00:50:05.081 --> 00:50:07.914
(people cheering)

00:50:20.839 --> 00:50:21.797
-: I've got elected.

00:50:21.797 --> 00:50:22.640
Tell the children.

00:50:22.640 --> 00:50:24.130
(people laughing)

00:50:24.130 --> 00:50:25.620
-: I never seen the Women's Coalition

00:50:25.620 --> 00:50:29.410
as being set up as a long-term women's party.

00:50:29.410 --> 00:50:32.610
Even though we were all together on a whole host of issues,

00:50:32.610 --> 00:50:34.030
the one issue that was pulling us apart

00:50:34.030 --> 00:50:36.810
was some women thought it's time for a women's party,

00:50:36.810 --> 00:50:39.093
and some women thought it's a nonsense.

00:50:40.290 --> 00:50:42.487
There was a fraying of the edges at that time.

00:50:42.487 --> 00:50:44.540
It was almost as if the Women's Coalition

00:50:44.540 --> 00:50:48.370
had came together in a moment of time to do a certain thing,

00:50:48.370 --> 00:50:50.973
and once it was done, it was gone.

00:51:03.370 --> 00:51:05.850
-: I think the demise of the Women's Coalition

00:51:05.850 --> 00:51:09.990
was fundamentally because the coalition

00:51:09.990 --> 00:51:13.070
was a peace party made up entirely of women.

00:51:13.070 --> 00:51:16.990
It was not a political party for the advancement

00:51:16.990 --> 00:51:21.990
of women's rights, so when peace was negotiated,

00:51:23.460 --> 00:51:28.080
it was difficult for women in the broader community

00:51:28.080 --> 00:51:30.893
to see what the role of the Women's Coalition was.

00:51:50.930 --> 00:51:55.640
-: Well, I've always believed that politics is deficient

00:51:56.918 --> 00:52:00.440
if it lacks women's perspective, women's voices,

00:52:00.440 --> 00:52:04.680
and I think there was never a more potent example

00:52:06.270 --> 00:52:09.290
than the contribution that the Women's Coalition made

00:52:09.290 --> 00:52:11.872
to the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.

00:52:11.872 --> 00:52:13.130
(reflective synth music)

00:52:13.130 --> 00:52:15.900
-: It's easy for people to overlook

00:52:15.900 --> 00:52:19.180
the role that women play in these events,

00:52:19.180 --> 00:52:22.700
and that's why elevating it, talking about it,

00:52:22.700 --> 00:52:25.453
writing it into history is essential.

00:52:26.550 --> 00:52:30.790
-: I don't think the women have been recognized widely

00:52:30.790 --> 00:52:32.960
for the crucial role they played,

00:52:32.960 --> 00:52:37.450
and I think that their role and contribution

00:52:37.450 --> 00:52:39.260
to the outcome and the agreement

00:52:39.260 --> 00:52:43.315
that finally was reached be recognized and remembered.

00:52:43.315 --> 00:52:45.760
All: Women's rights are human rights!

00:52:45.760 --> 00:52:48.960
-: It actually comes back to me how important it was

00:52:48.960 --> 00:52:52.590
when I talk to women from other conflict situations

00:52:52.590 --> 00:52:55.800
and they started sort of saying, what can we do?

00:52:55.800 --> 00:52:58.570
And you're sort of saying, well, setting up a women's party

00:52:58.570 --> 00:53:01.670
in those circumstances seemed so off-the-wall

00:53:01.670 --> 00:53:03.580
that people sort of said, you're mad.

00:53:03.580 --> 00:53:05.570
But actually, it did make a difference,

00:53:05.570 --> 00:53:07.115
and there is something that you can do.

00:53:07.115 --> 00:53:08.534
(dramatic electric guitar and synth music)

00:53:08.534 --> 00:53:11.860
(people chanting)

00:53:11.860 --> 00:53:14.800
-: For me, it's part of a big tapestry of activism

00:53:14.800 --> 00:53:17.739
and of what you can do to make positive change.

00:53:17.739 --> 00:53:19.360
(people cheering)

00:53:19.360 --> 00:53:21.270
But sometimes I think it's that hero mold.

00:53:21.270 --> 00:53:23.170
You know, you have to be able to do all that.

00:53:23.170 --> 00:53:24.003
You don't.

00:53:24.003 --> 00:53:25.670
You have to be a part of a big group,

00:53:25.670 --> 00:53:29.030
and then, together, the collective thing, you can change it.

00:53:29.030 --> 00:53:32.270
-: The idea was to release the idea to women

00:53:32.270 --> 00:53:33.723
that there is a place in politics.

00:53:33.723 --> 00:53:37.040
(people cheering)
(people applauding)

00:53:37.040 --> 00:53:40.803
Now, I know a lot of male counterparts didn't want that.

00:53:43.052 --> 00:53:43.885
Tough.

00:53:47.951 --> 00:53:50.951
(upbeat rock music)

00:54:12.980 --> 00:54:16.647
(contemplative piano music)

00:54:49.769 --> 00:54:53.852
(contemplative orchestral music)

00:55:56.381 --> 00:56:01.381
(upbeat electric guitar and percussion music)

00:57:05.539 --> 00:57:08.622
(mellow synth music)