Community-21 – a series of conversations reflecting on community work over Covid-19, funded by the Community Relations Council‘s Media Grant Scheme.
Contrary to global figures, the majority of people in Northern Ireland are women. Much work has gone into empowering women, particularly in grassroots communities and more marginalised backgrounds, since the Good Friday Agreement. One of the organisations leading this change is the Training for Women Network (TWN) headed by their CEO, Norma Shearer.
Norma and her colleagues have spent their careers empowering women to enhance and enrich their own lives while strengthening their communities. The TWN runs a variety of education, training and development programmes centred on building the capacity of women to advocate for themselves independently, whether that be at home, at work or out in public.
They work with women of all ages and backgrounds from the age of 14 to 90. They conduct research and steer public policy to further protect the rights of particularly vulnerable women, including BME, LGBT women and those who have unfortunately experienced domestic/sexual abuse or are under coercive paramilitary control. Their advocacy for Northern Irish women has taken them as far as the United Nations, representing the women of NI on the Committee for the Status of Women in discussions geared at pushing women’s rights forward on a global scale.
They do the hard work, providing women with the opportunity for brighter careers through their education and training programmes, instilling in them tools to avoid paramilitary control through their WICT programme, addressing legacy-related trauma issues left over from ‘The Troubles’, and coordinating cross-community art projects to improve mental health and promote reconciliation across the island of Ireland.
They are invested in helping those who are often ignored, building the confidence of many women to leave and avoid abusive relationships, addressing issues of self-harm and promoting a brighter future for NI’s youth by diminishing paramilitary control and the sectarian norms that still divide many of NI’s working class communities. They are aware that Northern Ireland’s future is contingent on confident, capable, educated and nurturing adults who will be raising this and future generations, leading us towards the diverse and accepting society many of us long for.
Building on this, a facet of their work we found highly pertinent is their focus on working with men who work with women. They see women’s issues as wide-ranging and, considering it is equality the TWN is seeking, they see it as equally important to make sure men are clued in on how they can become the best possible advocates for their female colleagues, friends and family members, and are continuing to seek innovative ways to help cross-gender relationships – whether professional or personal – more harmonious.
“Our work with men on women’s issues is just as important as our work directly with women. It is important that people from different backgrounds and perspectives can understand each other – we can’t empower women in a silo. Society at large needs to be aware of these issues so we can all collectively move forward.”
We’ve no doubt that the rights and issues of women will continue to be more fully and effectively addressed across Northern Ireland through the leadership of the TWN and that they will be at the forefront of societal transformation as we are – hopefully and finally – coming out of this pandemic.