Critical epistemologies Across Borders: Gendering visions of constitutional futures on the island of Ireland

Brexit has deepened debates on constitutional issues in Northern Ireland and has prompted renewed conversations on the future of North-South relationships. Women need to be at the centre of constitutional discussions in order to assess what any kind of constitutional change will do for women and, importantly, what it will do to women, and particularly marginalised women. Any change induced through shifting constitutional arrangements is likely to drive transformations that will affect grassroot women’s lives. Nevertheless, given the history of the relegation of gender equality concerns in public life and constitutional planning on both sides of the border gender equality issues are likely to remain positioned on the peripheries of on-going debates and discussions. Combining feminist frameworks with innovative inter-disciplinary methods the project facilitates the inclusion of grassroot women in on-going constitutional discussions. It provides cross-community, cross-border and co-created spaces to enable women to develop and share critical, multi-layered and diverse epistemologies, on the gender implications of shifts in constitutional arrangements and/or relationships. The project is underpinned by the principle of the right to participation in public debate which is codified in international law in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As such, it foregrounds the values of pluralism, equity, recognition and equality in its design, methodologies and outcomes.