Background to the Research

• Violence and disorder have risen steadily in NI over the past 10 years. One area in which knowledge is lacking is the role of women in the growth of different forms of violence in NI. Women are rarely portrayed as other than victims of violence, and this is even more marked in the case of young women. However, some data suggests that women and girls may be more active agents in forms of violence and disorder in NI than is commonly believed.
• There are 6 broad forms of engagement, which are useful in exploring young women's engagement with violence: observer, victim, monitor, restrainer, cheerleader and participant.
  

Research Approach

• This article draws from a selection of work, carried out in recent years by the ICR, concerning young people and violence. Specifically, it explores the experiences and attitudes of young women to forms of public violence, using quantitative data from three surveys.
• The NHSSB survey looked at young people's experiences of, and attitudes towards, violence and disorder within their communities. 491 young women (aged 12 - 17 years; 233 Protestants, 241 Catholics and 17 other) were included. A secondary survey, referred to as the Grammar school sample, involved 199 young women of a similar age range, attending a girls' controlled grammar school. The third sample used - the Derry sample - involves the experiences of 192 Catholic girls (aged 11 - 19), who participated in a survey of pupils attending a mixed gender maintained school on a public housing estate on the outskirts of Derry.
• This article explores the experiences of all three groups of young women, from the perspective of 5 of the 6 forms of engagement mentioned above.
  

Main Findings

Girls as Observers

• 57% of the NHSSB sample, 48% of the Grammar school sample, and 96% of the Derry sample said there was 'some' or 'a lot' of violence in their area.
• Various types of violence were identified, with low level activities such as graffiti and vandalism being more prominent than fighting or rioting. Young Protestant women seemed more aware of the low level issues, whereas young Catholic women evidenced higher levels of fighting within the community and with the police.
• The Derry sample expressed much higher levels of awareness of all six forms public violence included.

Girls as Victims

• Protestants generally felt safer than Catholics walking around their area; girls in Derry were more likely to feel unsafe during the day than those elsewhere; and the sense of safety dropped dramatically for all at night time, and even more so for weekend nights.
• 18% of the Grammar school sample, 47% of Catholics and 20% of Protestants from the NHSSB sample said they had been threatened/abused 'sometimes' or 'a lot'. Young Catholic women were also more likely to have been intimidated by the school uniforms and football strips worn by others, and were more likely to avoid going to certain places to avoid/reduce the risk of being harassed.

Girls as Monitors

• The NHSSB sample indicated that 74% of Protestant and Catholic young women acknowledged the involvement of young people in violence and disorder in their area.
• There was less agreement about who was responsible for initiating acts of violence, and also about who was responsible for controlling or stopping acts of violence. Only some of the Derry sample (7%) thought that young people had a role in stopping violence.

Girls as Participants

• 22% of the NHSSB sample admitted to having been involved in one or more of the identified forms of violence. Young Catholic women were twice as likely to admit to this than young Protestant women. The Grammar school sample had an even lower figure for involvement.
• There was wide variation in the level of involvement for different forms of violence: 11% said they had been involved in graffiti, and a similar number in fighting in the community. Only 5% admitted to vandalism and rioting, 4% to fighting with the police, and 3% to joyriding. In all cases, young Catholic women were more likely than their Protestant counterparts to have participated, and Grammar school girls barely acknowledged any involvement in violent activities.
• The Derry sample showed high levels of knowledge of others who had engaged in violent acts, but were not asked directly about their own involvement.
• The most common reason given by all samples for participation in violence was friends being involved. Other common reasons were boredom, for excitement or challenge, and because of alcohol/drugs.
• When asked about attitudes to different forms of violence, the Derry sample showed confusing attitudes, such as opposition to joyriding and law-breaking, but general acceptance of the use of violence in self-defence and acceptance of carrying a weapon under some circumstances.

Conclusions

• This review suggests a need for a more complex understanding of young women's experiences of violence, and of their agency in relation to forms of violence.
• It indicates that young women are far more aware of forms of violence, and are more actively involved in forms of public disorder, than is generally acknowledged.
• The data suggest differences between Protestants and Catholics, and also between different class backgrounds.