Pitted against Patriarchy

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Pitted Against Patriarchy

Women's Identity in the North

Introduction

When studying the violent and divided society of the North1 it is not unusual to find that much of the literature written focuses upon the recurrence of bombings, shootings and kidnappings, and on the men perpetrating those atrocities. The experiences of women are almost entirely neglected existing as they do on the margins of an overwhelmingly patriarchal society dominated by mythologies and political and religious formations which according to Coulter, reduces the women to 'subalterneity'.2 Women in the North and particularly in Belfast have learned to live in a society where their own identity and interests have often been in danger of being submerged and, at one time or another, even censured, silenced or ignored.

It would be a fairly straightforward task to examine the identity of women through literature written during the Troubles but that would fail to acknowledge the influences and experiences preceding this period, which contributed to forming and molding those communities and situations and, in part, causing the conflict in Northern Ireland. It is important, therefore, to examine some of those novels written before as well as during the 'Troubles' which