Women on sectarianism
“We know that women under report gender-based crime and sectarian incidents are no different.”
Glasgow Women’s Library has published their anthology of women’s writing gathered in the course of the Mixing The Colours project and as part of their Dragon’s Pen Writing Competition.
Given that sectarianism is not simply a problem of men and football and that people experience sectarianism differently, the Mixing The Colours project is addressing how intra-Christian sectarianism affects women in diverse communities and addresses their exclusion from previous research and societal dialogue.
The project gathered accounts of overt acts of discrimination, the direct result of religious bigotry against Catholic and Protestant, and exposed how sectarian bigotry intersects with transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, racism and hate crime experienced by LBT and BME women.
Participants in the project said that the key way in which women could address sectarianism was by participating in workshops and writing about their experiences.
And the publication came out of suggestions from learners in 2012 that said their engagement would be better supported by a dedicated publication; to date 76 women have participated in 11 creative writing workshops and a writing competition.
The published writers are Nicola Burkhill, Yvonne Dalziel, Jillian Joyce, Pauline Lynch, Kirsten MacQuarrie, Emma Mooney, Julie Robertson, Ethyl Smith, Morag Smith, Ellie Stewart, Leela Soma, Marie-Therese Taylor and Catriona Grigg, Deirdre MacLennan, and Liz Treacher from Brora Community Learning Centre.
The anthology also features specially commissioned works by Magi Gibson, Denise Mina and Eleanor Thom.
The creative writing is largely fiction based on fact. For many of the writers it has been a cathartic experience, a way to put the past to rest and to examine the present; much of the work recounts the memories of childhood and young adulthood.
It conveys the words of parents, warnings about how to behave at Orange Order parades, and reflects on the feelings and challenges they experienced as children.
Many of the stories share aggressive or violent incidents, forbidden friendships and love-interests. They tell of the physical restrictions placed on women as young people, places they could not or should not go, and cautions of where they wouldn’t be welcome.
A few of the pieces directly reject sectarian behaviour and the perpetrators, and assign responsibility to the church, football and the patriarchal structures in our society.
Sharing this work with further participants during workshops has allowed people to see and feel both Catholic and Protestant ‘sides’ of sectarianism. It has given rise to increased understanding and encouraged women to share their fears and prejudices and, most importantly, to find solutions collectively.
Speaking at the launch, the project’s development worker, Rachel Thain-Gray said: “At the inception of the project we were struck by lack of literature by women or about women on the issue of sectarianism and focus groups of women said that a dedicated book and workshops would help them speak about the issue in a safe place.
“So it’s been a process of consultation and active participation from the start.
“The project,” she continued, “has enabled and captured the voice that women have not had, telling both overt and subtle stories of bigotry and violence that were not spoken or asked about previously.
“Within the public spheres of their communities some women told us that they would be unlikely to challenge sectarianism on the street for fear of violence, hesitant to challenge it at home for fear of family conflict and reluctant to challenge it on social media for fear of misogynist abuse.
“We know that women under report gender-based crime and sectarian incidents are no different,” she said.
“Where a woman told us she was called a ‘Fenian bitch’ in the street during a parade, how likely was she to report it? How would it be recorded if she did? Is it a sectarian crime or a normalised act of misogyny? How likely is it that this would be pursued as a crime either way?
“Sectarianism is experienced within a context of women’s safety in general in public spaces and how they experience public life.
“Women told us that they modify their behaviour on match and parade days to avoid unsafe situations and places.
“Women are stopping their children from going out to play, shopping for food prior to matches, choosing their own and their children’s clothes to avoid negative attention. They are staying home.
“So what is women’s position on sectarianism? Until now women were publicly the victims and in the undercurrent the maternal perpetrators.
“Where women are identified as perpetrators we must explore the context in which it occurs.
“Women may appropriate the dominant male story in their family, church or society as a way to align themselves with the patriarchal construct, a way to experience some form of power where none exists in their own lives.
“Where women practice forms of exclusion or ostracisation in a family on the basis of religion they may be taking an instrumental role to ensure their own inclusion and ultimately safety, since they have so much to lose by not being a part of it,” she said.
And, she continued: “I think it’s important that the question in the survey is not interpreted to appropriate blame or place unreasonable responsibility on women and particularly mother’s shoulders.
“We must understand sectarianism as a patriarchal construct that must be acknowledged as part of the dominant fiction of masculinity and challenged by men and fathers in their families.”
The Mixing The Colours Publication is a tangible object of women’s collective action.
The look and feel is something special; the beautiful result of the project and the women who participated that gives weight and importance to their words and experiences.
And it is a starting point for the future, a seminal anthology of the legacy of sectarianism.
To download a – free – pdf copy of the Mixing The Colours Publication click here; for a – free – large print copy, click here.