Ex-Combatants, Gender and Peace in Northern Ireland

"Ex-Combatants, Gender and Peace in Northern Ireland is a powerful account of women's involvement in the republican movement and their experiences of imprisonment in Northern Ireland's jails. Includes harrowing first hand accounts of strip-searching and punitive prison regimes, along with rare insights into female volunteers' participation in the IRA. Wahidin's book will be essential reading for those studying modern Irish history and politics as well as for criminologists." (Dr Linda Moore, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Ulster)

However, the book shows that women performed a number of roles in war and peace that placed constructions of femininity in dissent.
Azrini Wahidin argues that the role of the female combatant is not given but ambiguous.This book explores the contours of women's involvement in the Irish Republican Army, political protest and the prison experience in Northern Ireland. Through the voices of female and male combatants, it demonstrates that women remained marginal in the examination of imprisonment during the Conflict and in the negotiated peace process. However, the book shows that women performed a number of roles in war and peace that placed constructions of femininity in dissent.
Azrini Wahidin argues that the role of the female combatant is not given but ambiguous. She indicates that a tension exists between different conceptualisations of societal security, where female combatants both fought against societal insecurity posed by the state and contributed to internal societal dissonance within their ethno-national groups. This book tackles the lacunae that has created a disturbing silence and an absence of a comprehensive understanding of women combatants, which includes knowledge of their motivations, roles and experiences. It will be of particular interest to scholars of criminology, politics and peace studies.