Troubles in Northern Ireland, during the 20th century, was a colossal conflict, that ended with thousands of people dying, decades of suffering, and a country that will never be the same. After World War II, Northern Ireland was composed of 6 counties, holding 1.3 million people, and 60% of those people were protestant (Wolf). This was a problem for Northern Ireland, because these protestants, had a major conflict with the catholics, which was the other main religion at the time. “The conflict between the Catholics and Protestants stretches back for centuries. In the early 17th century, the British effectively conquered Ireland and began sending mainly Scottish Protestants to settle in Ulster. For the next three centuries, Catholics in Ireland …show more content…
Life in Northern Ireland during the 20th century, was influenced significantly by the type of religion that people followed. Protestant’s felt like they were the dominant religion, which left an unequal relationship between Protestants and Catholics, especially in the social and economic lives of Catholics. “Jobs were not allocated on merit; public housing and other entitlements were distributed unequally by local authorities; and the system was perpetuated in an electoral system in which Catholic influence was artificially deflated”(O’Day). This was horrible for the Catholics, because the lives that they were living, were mainly based around discrimination from the Protestants. What’s worse is, “the welfare state spawned increased Catholic dissatisfaction”(O’Day), which made it even harder for the Catholics to receive help from all of the hardships that they were facing. Furthermore, the constant discrimination soon led to the Catholics retaliating in a violent conflict that would last for the next few decades. “Factional violence had become commonplace in Northern Ireland by the late 1960s; sections of the …show more content…
For them, it was even harder to be viewed as an individual. They were treated worse than both religions, and they were extremely segregated. “Being a woman in Northern Ireland was second to identification as one of these segregated identities”(Keiley-Listermann). They had the worst lives of anybody during this conflict. “Most have balanced raising a family with living in a war zone and navigating a political labyrinth”(Keiley-Listermann). These women had harder lives than the men did, due to having to raise their families throughout the conflict, with little social, economic, and political support from their country. Even the women that could find a job, had a very difficult life. “Often, mothers were the sole source of income, and the financial stress of living in poverty and balancing what work could be found with parenting was exceedingly difficult. There were high levels of domestic violence, broken marriages, and worry about partner's jobs that led to instability in the home”(Keiley-Listermann). Women’s lives were obviously terrible during these times, and the fact that they had to go through all of this, shows how bad this conflict really got. It even put a lasting impact on the children that were raised during this time. “Today, women in Northern Ireland are concerned about the impact of the conflict on the health—specifically the mental health—of their families. High levels of post