Irish Association Seminar on
New Relationships Within and Between These Islands
Mount Herbert Hotel, Dublin, 10 May 2003

Paper by Fiona MacKay and Elizabeth Meehan, presented by Elizabeth Meehan
'Women and Devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales'

Abstract
This paper suggests that women had an impact on the new constitutional arrangements in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was a conscious strategy on their part to be in at the beginning to ensure that new institutions did not simply replicate the old. They were also determined that the numerical representation of women should be more equal that before. This was achieved in Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland the change was smaller but still an improvement on the past. The paper suggests that the high presence of women has contributed to the introduction of aspects of a new political culture in Scotland and Wales but that the evidence is not so strong for Northern Ireland. The paper outlines the new aspects of the framework for policy and the beginnings of new specific policies that have potential for the meeting of women's concerns and interests. Equality is, in theory, high on the agendas of each of the new legislatures and, in the case of Northern Ireland institutionalized into a sophisticated system of gender-proofing. In this field there has been a degree of policy learning across the devolved administrations and between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The north-south and east-west arrangements for Northern Ireland provide new channels for such policy learning - and new channels that move the links between Ireland and Britain away from the 'Anglo-Irish' Dublin-London axis into a multilateral pattern of relations involving the whole of the United Kingdom - with opportunities for women as much as other groups.

Irish Association Seminar on
New Relationships Within and Between These Islands
Mount Herbert Hotel, Dublin, 10 May 2003
Paper by Fiona MacKay and Elizabeth Meehan, presented by Elizabeth Meehan
'Women and Devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales'

Elizabeth Meehan is Director of the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research at Queen's University Belfast. Fiona MacKay is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Edinburgh University.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge:
The support of the Economic and Social Research Council. This paper is drawn from a project 'Gender and Constitutional Change', funded under the ESRC's Programme, Devolution and Constitutional Change:
The work of others on the research team indicated at footnote 1.
The support of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission which hosted a dissemination seminar on 11 April 2003.
Women and Devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Introduction
I shall start this talk by giving a flavour of women's impact on the processes of reform. Then I shall say something about the effects of devolution on the numerical presence of women in the two assemblies and the Scottish Parliament. After that, I shall say something about the capacity of the new institutions to deliver policies that meet women's concerns and interests. I shall conclude with the opportunities for the exchange of ideas between Ireland and all parts of Britain opened up by the arrangements for Northern Ireland.
Women's Impact on the Reform Agenda
In order to give a flavour of the impact of women on the reform agendas in the various parts of the United Kingdom, perhaps I could begin with an anecdote. At a conference a year ago on the overall ESRC Programme on Devolution and Constitutional Change, a male participant from Northern Ireland expressed surprise that his, largely male, colleagues who were carrying out projects under the overall programme were so silent on issues of gender. He pointed out that women had had an important but ignored impact on reform. Behind his comment seemd to lurk a suspicion that, even if they were to acknowledge such an impact, his colleagues might not look to Northern Ireland as a leader in progressive politics. His question would certainly put them right, one would have thought. With a dramatic flourish, he asked: 'If invited to think ten years ago which non-mainstream party or group would be likely to influence a putative Agreement would you have predicted - the Orange Order or the [then non-existent] Northern Ireland Women's Coalition?'. He continued: 'And now, ten years on, which would you say did have the influence?'
The representation of women, numerically and in terms of meeting their policy concerns, became increasingly central to justifications in the 1990s for devolution in Great Britain - in contrast to the demands for reform in the 1970s and in contrast - despite my colleague's questions - to Northern Ireland. Partly as a result of the leaders of the women's movement in Wales, the Government of Wales Act 1998 contains a legal duty to promote equality of opportunity which, according to some, has worked better for women than other groups. In Scotland, again as a result of women's activism - but over a longer period in Wales and throughout the ten years of the Scottish Constitutional Convention - it came to be expected that the so-called 'new politics' that was to be realized through devolution would mean nothing if it did not address the gender question.
In Northern Ireland, devolution was not motivated by a desire amongst the dominant parties to bring about a 'new politics' of popular sovereignty and gender equality but by the need to find a way of ending decades of violent conflict. Nevertheless, there were parties with the view that the ending of conflict was not the same as building a peace. As the result of their desire to find a new form of politics in Northern Ireland, new constitutional arrangements do include provision which are consistent with the values of the reformers in Great Britain. These include, for example, equality principles that transcend the binary 'parity of esteem' as between Catholics/nationalists and Protestants/unionists; specific statements about women's equality in public and political life; and the Civic Forum as a means of preserving a form of participatory democracy alongside representative democracy. Moreover, in conformity with the idea that standards of rights would be consistent on the island as a whole, there is an ongoing interchange of ideas between the equality bodies in the north and south.
The reasons for the long-running activism by women in the Scottish constitutional reform campaign and their later engagement in Northern Ireland and Wales were as follows. They regarded it as crucial for gender concerns to be integrated into the design of new assemblies and parliaments. They believed that institutions mattered and that it was important to get women and women's ideas in at the start. And they believed that it was important for women to be in the new institutions from the start - which brings me to -
The Numerical Representation of Women in the New Legislatures and Their Impact on the Political Culture of Those Bodies
In Scotland women were determined not be excluded 'this time round' and women from different backgrounds and organisations formed a broad coalition to campaign for '50: 50' equality of representation in the Scottish parliament.. The elections in 1999 resulted in a gender coup that transformed the face of Scottish politics.
· Women are 37 per cent of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament;
· Women are about a third of cabinet ministers and a third of convenors of parliamentary committees;
· Women constitute 30 per cent of Council members the Scottish Civic Forum set up by the Scottish Executive;
· 'Family friendly' working hours are observed in the parliament which also recognises Scottish school holidays. The new parliament building will have a visitors' crèche.
In Wales, opportunities were constrained by the relative lack of public and political debate on constitutional reform and the general ambivalence about the devolution project. However against this rather unpromising backdrop, a small group of influential women activists - party women, trade unionists, academics and gender experts - did manage to insert themselves and concerns about gender equality into political dialogue and were able to press for significant concrete gains. The elections marked a significant break with tradition and dramatic results.
· Women are 42 per cent of AMs in the National Assembly for Wales;
· Women are two-thirds of cabinet ministers and 40 per cent of committee convenors;
· 'Family friendly' working hours are observed in the assembly which also recognises Welsh
school holidays.
In Northern Ireland, women had similar motivations. A study of Women and Citizenship in the mid-1990s noted the a comment by one women activist in the policy-negotiating system that operated under Direct Rule; 'if you're not in, you can't win'. The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, drawing on those community activists, across the sectarian divide, was formed just six weeks before the elections to the Forum. Its founders had exactly the same belief that institutions matter and that women needed to be in on their design. Unfortunately, the women who became its founders had had virtually no response from any of the main parties to requests that they recognize this - though, of course, traditional parties did field some women candidates.
In getting two seats in the Forum, the Women's Coalition also took part in the Talks. One of the Women's Coalition calls at the Talks was for en electoral system which, like those used for the Forum and in Scotland and Wales, included an element of an additional member system. This was not achieved and the election results for the first Assembly are, on the face of it, less impressive than those for Scotland and Wales. However, they are a big advance on elections to the old Stormont, the Westminster Parliament and the European Parliament. Also, a larger proportion of the Northern Ireland Assembly is made up of women than is the case in the Dáil, the proportion of TDs who are women is about 13 per cent.
· Women form 14-15 per cent of Assembly Members, But:
· Women have or had three of the ten departmental ministerial posts.;
· Women figure strongly in some Assembly committees: Health, Social Services and Public Safety (45 per cent); and some 27 per cent on Employment and Learning, Enterprise, Trade and Investment and on Public Accounts;
· Women form 37 per cent of the Civic Forum, an institutional manifestation of women's influence on the shaping of devolution;
· The Assembly operates according to 'family friendly' hours.
The extent to which political culture within the institutions is different from Westminster as a result of the presence of women [and of equality requirements which I shall come to later] is still an open question. In Scotland and Wales, there is some evidence that it has. In the words of one observer of the Scottish Parliament:
I expected the Parliament to look different, but it doesn't. It looks like the rest of life, where women and men are present in roughly equal numbers .. (Sue Innes, activist, writer and academic)
According to a Welsh MLA:
Having a critical mass of women parliamentarians has made a difference to what we talk about, what we prioritize, what we do, and it's made a big difference about how we do it. (female AM, National Assembly for Wales)
There is a broad consensus that the presence of women political representatives has made at least some 'difference' to political practices in the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. Females MSPs and AMs perceive that they work differently to men and have been at the forefront of developing constructive working practices in the parliamentary committees and breaking down old patterns of 'tribal, confrontational politics'. Moreover, there are perceptions that the presence of women has enabled (some) male politicians to 'do' politics differently and to become involved in different political issues. For example, the Scottish Parliamentary cross-party group on Men's Violence against Women is convened by a male MSP from the Scottish National Party. In Wales, one of the key equality champions is a male Conservative AM.
It is not clear that anything comparable has happened in Northern Ireland yet. This may arise from the fact that there is no 'critical mass' of women in Northern Ireland, as there is in the two devolved administrations in Great Britain. Findings about MLAs' understandings of their role as representatives suggest little difference between women and traditional male parliamentarians - with one exception. North Ireland's female Assembly Members, like women elsewhere and more often that their male counterparts, see it as their role to bring public attention to unrecognized issues and to provide access for marginalized or excluded voices. However, they are not keen to do so by acting across party boundaries, whereas in Scotland this does happen in an informal way. With respect to male politicians, observations about changed or unchanged behaviour still focus on how the two sides of the sectarian divide treat each other. Indeed, the allocation of committee memberships which seemingly sometimes favour women are sometimes seen by women themselves as based on gender stereotyping [remember, Health was where women were most prominent] or arising from women being given what their male party colleagues did not want.
However, there is scope in Northern Ireland for conventional parties to be more pro-women. A recent survey reported that:
· Two-thirds of women surveyed and more than half the male respondents said they wanted to see more women in the Assembly.
· While only one-fifth thought that parties should be required to put forward a specific proportion of women candidates, more than half thought that parties should be encouraged to field more women candidates.
Yet, leaving aside the Women's Coalition, the other parties - as of 1 May - had selected 33 women candidates compared with 156 men. And new legislation for Great Britain which permits parties to take positive action to increase the numbers of women representatives has not been used in Northern Ireland. Success, actual or aspired to, in increasing the numerical representation of women inevitably leads us to ask whether greater representation also enhances the likelihood that institutions and policies will be more responsive to women's policy concerns or interests.

New Institutions and Policies
As a result of women's activism in all three adminstrations, there are new institutional frameworks that hold the promise of a better deal for women.
In Scotland:
· An Equal Opportunities Committee was established in the Parliament and an Equality Unit was set up within the Scottish Executive.
· Equal opportunities is a key principle of the parliament and a stated priority of the
government. Both are committed to 'mainstreaming' equality - including gender equality across all their areas of work including legislation and policy-making.
In Wales:
· An Equality of Opportunity Committee was established in the Assembly and an Equality
Policy Unit was set up within the NAW Government.
· A statutory equality duty is in place which requires that the Assembly and Assembly
sponsored public bodies have 'due regard' for equal opportunities in all their functions.
· NAW is committed to 'mainstreaming' equality - including gender equality - across all areas
of work and policy-making.
In Northern Ireland:
· Legislation has to conform with European human rights standards.
· Legislation and policy has to be 'equality-proofed'.
· As in elsewhere, the new Executive has an equality unit, as well as there being the Equality Commission, set up under the Northern Ireland 1998, bringing together previously separate equality bodies.
The contexts are, however, different. Scotland and Northern Ireland have more powers than the Welsh Assembly. In Scotland, devolution has realized the promise of quicker and more responsive government. Under the old system, there was time only for five Scottish bills per session at Westminister. The first session of the Scottish Parliament passed more than forty. Despite Northern Ireland's greater similarity to Scotland than to Wales, it has had particularly limitations to its capacity to act. The Assembly was in 'shadow mode' for its first year and was subsequently suspended three times, as it is now.
In Scotland and Wales, woman across parties argue they have made a difference - as women- across a range of policy areas including domestic violence, sexual offences, women's and men's health, childcare, free personal care for the elderly and the repeal of provisions aimed at preventing schools from including in sex education discussion of 'same sex families'. They have also brought gender perspectives to work on enterprise, transport, rural development and environment. In Northern Ireland, there is evidence that women within the Assembly and, through the Civic Forum, used the existence of a consultation process for the first Programme for Government to ensure that its provisions (for example, on lifelong learning ) took account of women's situations. The Programme(s) for Government also include other noteworthy provisions; for example, its taking up of the provision in the Agreement about women's equality in public life and the intention to bring forward a Single Equality Bill (inspired not only by devolution but also the European Union). And, as in the other administrations, some policies, while couched in gender-neutral terms, are in the interests of women; for example, free travel for the elderly (a population where women predominate) and childcare support for mature students. However, in contrast to Scotland, where new policies on domestic violence are regarded as a major success, in Northern Ireland women are ignored and the focus is on children.
If action against domestic violence is the flagship policy for Scottish women , in Wales it is action to close the gender pay gap in the civil service. While equality is high in on all three agendas , the approach to it in Northern Ireland is perhaps the most entrenched and sophisticated in the statutory equality mainstreaming duty placed on all public bodies. The particular circumstances of Northern Ireland contributed to the strength of this set of provisions and the arrangements in each of the devolved administrations differ. All three devolved administrations appear more advanced than the UK level. Nevertheless, there remain substantial shortfalls in Scotland and Wales. It is thus fortunate that lesson-sharing appears to operate amongst the three devolved administrations. This brings me to my conlcusion and the linking of Ireland into the gender aspects of constitutional reform and devolutiion.
Conclusion
This reference to policy-learning highlights the importance of the constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland for all the peoples of these islands. The provisions for north-south cooperation include the possibility for a north-south consultative forum about which discussions were taking place before the October 2002 suspension. The British Irish Council, which somehow has survived suspension, has a programme of work which links Ireland, not only on the old Anglo-Irish basis between Dublin and London, but also with the devolved administrations throughout Britain. The social inclusion strand of the British Irish Council's work is being led by Scotland, assisted by Wales. Scotland is setting up a 'virtual community forum' in this area. Thus, the new institutions provide more formal channels than before for policy-learning on both the north-south and east-west axes. But even without these channels and the formal requirement of the Agreement that I mentioned earlier for some harmonization of rights, the very efforts to achieve them have, to paraphrase John Hume, opened the minds to the cross-fertilization of ideas. The equality field is an area where we really see this working.