Post by earl on Jun 12, 2007 13:24:55 GMT
NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland: Irish President Mary McAleese lauded the growing role of women in Northern Ireland's police force, arguing Thursday that they were well positioned to challenge "macho" attitudes that fueled bloodshed in the British territory.
McAleese, the Belfast-born head of state of the Irish Republic, told a conference of women officers in Northern Ireland's police force they were part of "a blessed generation" enjoying newfound peace following a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives, including more than 300 police officers.
"We have a strong memory of what all this has cost and so we know its value, its hard-earned, awful value," McAleese said. "We are emerging from a largely macho culture, steeped in the politics of conflict and until recently relatively untutored in the politics of consensus-building.
"It was not an easy world for the genius of women to flourish in, but as the old ways give way to new, there could not be a better time for women to seize the moment and the momentum as you are doing," she said.
Police reform, a major plank of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, has brought rapid changes in what until recently was an overwhelmingly male, Protestant force.
Five years of affirmative-action recruitment policies, combined with early retirement offers to male Protestant officers, have made the 7,500-member force 21 percent Catholic and 21 percent female.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/17/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-Irish-President.php
McAleese, the Belfast-born head of state of the Irish Republic, told a conference of women officers in Northern Ireland's police force they were part of "a blessed generation" enjoying newfound peace following a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives, including more than 300 police officers.
"We have a strong memory of what all this has cost and so we know its value, its hard-earned, awful value," McAleese said. "We are emerging from a largely macho culture, steeped in the politics of conflict and until recently relatively untutored in the politics of consensus-building.
"It was not an easy world for the genius of women to flourish in, but as the old ways give way to new, there could not be a better time for women to seize the moment and the momentum as you are doing," she said.
Police reform, a major plank of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, has brought rapid changes in what until recently was an overwhelmingly male, Protestant force.
Five years of affirmative-action recruitment policies, combined with early retirement offers to male Protestant officers, have made the 7,500-member force 21 percent Catholic and 21 percent female.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/17/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-Irish-President.php