Mary Ward is the latest woman to be murdered in the north of Ireland. Previously, she had reported being victim of a violent crime to the PSNI/RUC; like with most victims of femicide, murder was a culmination of a longer history of violence. Questions are being asked of the PSNI/RUC’s failure to intervene here (prompting internal investigations) and of their “Tackling Violence against Women and Girls” strategy.
The reality is that the sickness which leads to these murders is deep-rooted, the numbers are horrifying. The Occupied Six Counties are one of if not the deadliest place in Europe to be a woman. No such action plans, panels or petty reforms can truly ameliorate this. Regressive, sexist values remain dominant in society, exacerbated in colonised, occupied Ireland. Colonialism and imperialism foster this violence, under a system where women are treated as property rather than people.
A police force that colludes with loyalist paramilitaries, other sectarian organisations and organised crime cannot be trusted to protect women on intervene on their behalf. As a result, women are left too often with nowhere to go. Intimate Partner Violence is an epidemic, beginning from endemic societal sexism to coercive control to physical abuse.
While revolution is the only solution, it is not enough for hundreds and thousands of women trapped in such situations to wait, suffering the violence of patriarchal imperialism today. In the words of Vol. Mairead Farrell:
“I am oppressed as a woman, and I’m also oppressed as an Irish person. Everyone in this country is oppressed and yet we can only end our oppression as women if we end the oppression of our nation as a whole. But, I don’t think that alone is enough. This isn’t the first time that women have been seen as secondary, but women today have been through so much that they won’t just let things be. I hope I’m still alive when the British are driven out. Then the struggle begins anew.”
Ní saoirse go saoirse na mban.