Northern Ireland

MAC events to highlight role of women in public life

Pauline Gilmore from the UDP featured in Women's Work by film-maker Nuala Haughey 
Pauline Gilmore from the UDP featured in Women's Work by film-maker Nuala Haughey  Pauline Gilmore from the UDP featured in Women's Work by film-maker Nuala Haughey 

THE role of women in political life and in the evangelical Protestant tradition will be highlighted during events at the MAC theatre in Belfast over the weekend.

The theatre will screen two films and hold discussions about how much women's role in public life in Northern Ireland has changed over the last few decades.

Women's Work, by film-maker Nuala Haughey, will be shown at 3pm on Saturday.

The film profiled female candidates in the 1997 general election, including Monica McWilliams from the Women's Coalition, the DUP's Iris Robinson, Brid Rodgers from the SDLP and Sinn Féin's Marie Moore, as they canvassed for votes.

The screening will be followed by a discussion featuring 1997 Women's Coalition candidate Bronagh Hinds, commentator Sarah Creighton, and Lynn Carvill, chief executive of social enterprise Women's Tec.

Ms Carvill said although progress had been made since 1997 many female politicians now face harassment on social media.

"It is an unfortunate truth that in many career areas, we still don't have to look far to find the old attitudes and explicit misogyny which still must be tacked head on," she said.

On Sunday at 3pm, the MAC will show Dust on the Bible, a 1989 documentary by John T. Davis about Protestant evangelism in Northern Ireland.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion featuring novelists Jan Carson and Sue Divin, and poet Moyra Donaldson.

Áine McVerry from the MAC said the events are timely ahead of May's elections.

"We want to challenge in an informed way how both politics and evangelical Protestantism accommodate and promote women, if at all," she said.

Further details and booking visit https://themaclive.com/whats-on.