‘We’ve Been Left Out’: women’s refuges in Northern Ireland, 1974–2008

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Abstract With histories of late-twentieth-century Northern Ireland1 consumed with political violence, and studies of the contemporary women’s movements in Britain only recently shifting their focus beyond London, Northern Irish women’s refuges have been obscured from historical view. This article proposes that re-situating women’s refuges in the context of the Troubles can enrich our understanding of the refuge movements, and wider women’s activism, across the UK at the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing from archived and original interviews as well as documentary sources, the article traces the development of the Northern Irish refuge movement over four key periods: early years (1974–83), cross-community organizing (1983–93), development (1993–8), and efforts for diversity and inclusion (1998–2008). Such a chronology challenges the perception of the 1980s as an era of division and decline for UK feminism, and highlights the value of moving away from overarching chronologies of women’s activism towards more localized timelines. Furthermore, re-contextualizing women’s refuges in the battleground of the Troubles offers new evidence of their efforts to reduce domestic abuse, bring together women from opposing communities, and rebuild a democratic society. These activities contributed to the ‘vernacular’ peace process taking place in Northern Ireland’s voluntary sector, and suggest that refuges across the UK were similarly engaged in a peace process addressing violence in the home.