For decades, they have been the silent sisters. While nationalist women
performed on the political stage, their unionist counterparts stayed in the
shadows.
There was no Protestant Bernadette Devlin. Bairbre de Brun and Brid Rodgers
might have been nominated for the worst ministries by their parties yet at
least they made it into the Executive. It was jobs for the boys on unionist
benches.
But times are changing and, rather amazingly, it's the DUP leading the
charge. Tough, passionate and assertive, Diane Dodds, Arlene Foster, Nora
Beare and Iris Robinson comprise a high-profile female Assembly team.
Now they are planning to launch a recruitment drive for female members. The
DUP is also actively searching for more women candidates for next year's
council elections. Women still aren't in the top decision-making tier but
there are hopes of returning at least one extra female MP next time.
"She isn't very big but she has a tongue that could clip a hedge." Diane
Dodds is proud of the verdict a man delivered on her to husband Nigel.
"As a politician, I'm a lot more informal than Nigel and definitely louder.
Our four women MLAs all have strong and very different personalities. We're
not clones," she says.
"Maybe some in the unionist community think 'these women are getting a bit
out of hand'. But it's a minority. On the Shankill, people want someone to
fight their corner. They don't care what gender you are."
Dodds (45) was politically active before she met her husband. They were both
in the DUP Association at Queen's University. Love eventually developed
during the 1981 Carson trail. "It took a few years for Nigel to ask me out
and then a few more to propose," she says.
She wasn't in a rush, being keen to build her career. She taught history and
English but left her job after her son Andrew was born with Spina Bifida and
hydrocephalus in 1990.
"Nigel was working with Dr Paisley in Strasbourg. One of us had to stay at
home and I earned less money. I was never into being a housewife. There is
only so much dusting one can do. I missed working. I don't in the slightest
regret what I did but it wasn't easy."
She still managed to help with her husband's council work while bringing up
three children. There were other challenges: "Andrew had countless
neuro-surgical operations and sometimes Nigel was in Strasbourg. I just had
to deal with it." Andrew died five years ago.
Dodds is tipped to be the DUP's South Antrim candidate at the next
Westminster election. Her husband strongly encourages her political career
but has room to improve on the domestic front. "Nigel is very busy so he
does little in the house. I gave up on him years ago. He puts a bit of
emulsion on the walls and carves the Sunday roast but that's it. He
certainly isn't a new man," she jokes.
In the last Assembly, Iris Robinson (54) was her party's only female member.
But she is angry at reports that the DUP 'Queen Bee' was jealous of Dodds'
election: "The very idea is ludicrous. Diane is one of the nicest people I
know. I respect and love her as a friend and colleague."
While not a feminist, Robinson says equality is important to her. In her
home patch of Castlereagh Council, five of the DUP's 10 councillors are
women.
"We are a modern, progressive party. Three of those women are under 30. They
all have demanding jobs. Clare Ennis is a staff nurse at the Ulster
Hospital. She often comes to council meetings straight from work, still in
her uniform. Isn't that a fantastic image of women in politics?"
Politically, Robinson is "more emotional and volatile" than her husband. She
fights for her constituents "like my life depends on it". She loves the
political arena. "I don't regret my years at home but it's liberating to
broaden your horizons in the outside world.
"Sometimes I can't believe a working-class girl like me from the Cregagh
Estate has ended up an MP. When I walked into the House of Commons for the
first time, my heart was bouncing with pride. I know I got there through
hard work."
She thinks women bring different qualities to politics: "We are sensitive
and approachable. When single teenage mothers visit my office, I remember
suffering post-natal depression after my first child." She has three
grown-up children and two grand-children. She is a committed Christian but
enjoys a glass of red wine.
She likes driving fast on the motorway, "though always within the speed
limit", in her black-and-white mini, listening to Abba or Patsy Cline.
"There is nothing I enjoy more than a big, open stretch of road." She loves
old movies. Her favourite is 'Gone With the Wind'. She admires Scarlett
O'Hara. "What a spirit!" she declares.
Arlene Foster (33) remembers making a very emotional speech on the RUC's
future to the UUP agm when she was eight months' pregnant. "I raised a few
eyebrows among the older ladies who could be less progressive than some men.
"They looked at my condition and thought, 'We would never do that sort of
thing!'" Foster has not been doing what's expected for years. As a Young
Unionist chairperson, she was once widely tipped to become the UUP's first
female Westminster MP.
"If I had been interested only in career success, I'd have kept my mouth
shut on the Agreement but I happen to believe in principles. Men who take a
stand get away with more. If a woman is outspoken, people see her as hard."
She admires Baroness Thatcher as "a strong leader" but "she didn't blaze a
trail for other women. Her attitude wasn't 'come on girls, let's all go for
it'". In her Enniskillen constituency office, Foster's secretary is a man
"and he is absolutely fabulous".
She agrees chauvinism still exists in unionism "but sometimes it's also that
women aren't cheeky enough and don't push themselves forward".
As the mother of two young children, a lawyer, and Assembly member, life is
hectic: "During very difficult years in the UUP, my kids kept me grounded.
Coming home, making their tea and bathing them, helped me forget other
problems."
Lord Kilclooney (John Taylor) was "very encouraging" of women in politics,
she says. Dr Paisley is also praised. "I'd just joined the DUP and he asked
me about my two children. He took an interest in me as a person, not just a
politician. David Trimble wouldn't even have known how many kids I had.
Things like that are important for women who spend so much time balancing
work and family. It's nice if that's acknowledged."
Norah Beare notes when the media mentions the DUP's new Assembly members,
it's "Jeffrey, Arlene, and that other lady". "Well, I'm that other lady and
I can be quite lively," she declares.
Beare (57) joined the UUP 35 years ago. She has worked both at party
headquarters and as Jeffrey Donaldson's secretary. She was elected to
Banbridge Council three years ago.
"I reckoned women had left politics to men for too long. I thought of the
suffragettes and what they sacrificed to get us the vote. One threw herself
in front of a horse, you know."
Beare has had an unbelievably hard life. In 1989, she separated from her
husband shortly after becoming pregnant at the age of 42. "The baby was a
blessing. I was so delighted to have Matthew". One afternoon, her 13-month
son was sitting in his high-chair in the kitchen while she vacuumed the
living-room.
"I was only away a few minutes. The edge of his nappy caught on the bolt of
his chair. He fell face-down on the seat and suffocated. I came back to find
him dead.
"I remember leaving the Mater Hospital and never having experienced pain
like that. I was heart-broken. You never fully recover." Beare refused all
medication. Friends were worried she would commit suicide.
Two years later she thought she had another chance at happiness when she met
her second husband William. They were married only four months when he was
diagnosed with terminal cancer. "It was in his lungs, his kidneys and his
bones. It was right through him. There was no point in chemotherapy." He
died two months later.
The Salvation Army plays a major part in her life. "After Matthew died, I
gathered his pram, his cot, and his clothes and rang them. I had lots of
stuff because when you're on your own and money is tight you buy in bulk at
the sales. The Salvation Army sent a van round to pick it up. That was the
start of my involvement."
She thinks women bring different experiences to politics. She is interested
in broadening the political agenda to include issues like cot deaths,
cancer, and suicide. She is keen to help organisations working in these
areas. "I'm not sure if I'm a feminist. But I'm a strong-minded, determined,
independent woman and there should be more of us in politics."
