There are as many different versions of the Troubles as there are people in Northern Ireland. Ask different women, for example, what they were doing in this 30-year period and you will get a variety of answers.
Some women were involved in the civil rights movement or at the forefront of peace organisations. Some took up arms on one side or the other, or supported the violent struggle. Other women remained on the sidelines, alienated by politics and disillusioned with male politicians. It wasn't because they were men that women switched off. It was because they failed to listen, compromise or solve problems.
Research shows that women are less likely to vote and among young women rates are even lower. Perhaps this is because politicians from traditional parties have not given them anything worth voting for. They don't address the problems women face.
For 30 years of the Troubles politicians were silent on health care, education, children's rights or public transport, except as they related to the community divide. Poverty was not discussed, never mind addressed. Political voices in London or Dublin, Stormont or Sunningdale were mostly male.
The Women's Coalition has never suggested that women are superior to men, or that women are living in a vacuum cut off from the sectarianism, division, hatred and violence in our society. What we do argue is that women are often involved and affected differently.
It is precisely because women are affected in different ways that they must be allowed to be part of the solutions. Trying to improve community relations without involving women, who make up half the community, is a nonsense. Trying to solve our intractable political problems without including women in the process will not work.
Women have to be at the table to contribute to solving problems, whether it's a local issue or negotiations for an international peace agreement. I'm not talking about one or two token women, but as full participants. Yet in Northern Ireland women are seriously under-represented in local councils, the assembly and the House of Commons. Northern Ireland has not sent a woman to the European Parliament in 30 years of elections!
More balanced political representation will result in fairer and better decisions. This principle has long been accepted when we are talking about religious background. The prospect of excluding either unionist or nationalist voices should be unthinkable. From integrated school governors to public bodies, from the police service to the assembly itself, there are measures to guarantee rights and representation to both communities.
These safeguards are right and proper, but why should people have a problem with the same commitments to an equal say for women, a mere 51 per cent of the population?
Women who get involved in politics and in their communities are not seeking to exclude or relegate men. As individuals, women bring new skills as well as new issues to the table. We have many different visions for the future of our society, but whatever our vision we have an equal right to be heard.
Perhaps when we work to 'normalise' our society, we need to go far further than removing watchtowers or weapons from the equation. The Coalition's vision of a normal society is broader. We want a woman from Ardoyne or Glenbryn to be able to walk to the shops without fear or interference. We want children and young people to be preoccupied with football, homework and music, not rioting or prejudice. We also want a society free from discrimination on grounds of religion, race, disability or gender.
We in the Women's Coalition are not presenting ourselves as the solution to Northern Ireland's problems, but we are working overtime to find solutions. As well as the fact that we are women taking our seats at the negotiations, perhaps it is this approach that makes the Women's Coalition different from others at the table.
