29th November 1999

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A group of women from both sides of the border are to graduate this week from the University of Ulster in a course designed to help them achieve 'full and equal political participation'- an important ingredient, they say, of the Good Friday Agreement.

The course, a Women's Political Development Programme, has attracted community activists from development organisations in urban and rural areas, from farming organisations and from women's self-help groups in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Among those present will be students from Tyrone, Newtownhamilton, Londonderry/Derry, the greater Belfast area, Sligo, Donegal and Galway.

The course has been run by a north/south consortium called POWER - Politically Organised Women Educating for Representation - which includes the University of Ulster, University College Dublin's Women's Education Research and Resource Centre, the Women's Support Network and the National Women's Council of Ireland.

The Project co-ordinator is Margaret Martin:

"Despite their valuable experience and familiarity with local issues, women often find that while they undertake the work of social justice, they are excluded from decision making.

"An important ingredient of the Good Friday Agreement is the inclusion of human rights. This course was designed to help women in their quest for full and equal political participation."

Margaret says several students, who came from divided communities, ended up breaking personal barriers between them and students 'from the other side:

"The students have shared their histories and looked at how their foremothers were written out of history. They explored the meaning of citizenship for women in the north and south of Ireland.

"They also came to grips with economics and considered why women's work is low paid and indeed often unpaid."

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk