Political Representation Political Representation of Women in Northern of Women in Northern Ireland Ireland Elisabeth Porter Increasing the political representation of women in Northern Ireland is part of foster- ing political pluralism. First, the political representation of women requires democratic participation and a justi®cation of `women' as a category. Second, speci®c factors of cul- ture and the church unique to Ireland hinder women's participation in elected poli- tics, and there are additional factors of class, violence, and nationalism that are peculiar to Northern Ireland. Third, gender quotas are successful elsewhere, but alone will not alter the powerful resistance to feminist change in Northern Ireland. Structures to encourage inclusionary politics must create spaces for political women to be transforma- tive agents. Politics in Northern Ireland (NI) are in a dire mess. Despite elections to all-party talks, sub- stantive negotiations are stymied. 1 Restoration of the conditions whereby all elected repre- sentatives to the `peace-talks' can engage in political dialogue is imperative. Within such a dicult context, nothing is more important than achieving a workable, peaceful political settlement. Hence it may seem to some poli- tical scientists, politicians, or citizens of NI, a political luxury or irrelevance to be thinking about the political representation of women. I maintain it is neither a luxury nor an irrele- vance to do so. It is a crucial aspect of foster- ing the political pluralism that is necessary in NI. NI currently has 17 members in the West- minster Parliament and 3 in the European Parliament, and none of these are women. At the May 1996 elections to the all-party talks, 15 women from 110 candidates were elected to the general debating Forum. Given the absence of Sinn FeÂin and the withdrawal of the Social Democratic and Labour Party from the Forum, there are only 7 women from 72 persons participating in the Forum. Without Sinn FeÂin at the negotiation table, at the ®rst day of peace talks on 10 June 1996 there were 2 women from the newly formed North- ern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) from 23 elected persons present. This paper explores the political repre- sentation of women in NI. I begin with a fun- damental question of political theory, `What does the representation of women mean?' I argue that while the notion of `women's inter- ests' is problematic, in the absence of women's voices in the political arena, democ- racy is seriously incomplete. Second, I con- trast the situation in NI with the Republic of Ireland (RI) where women constitute a more conspicuous presence in politics. I contend that there are speci®c factors unique to Ire- land, North and South, that hinder women's participation in elected politics, and there are Politics (1998) 18(1) pp. 25±32 # Political Studies Association 1998. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 25 Elisabeth Porter, University of Ulster.