What is the female role in politics? Does she have one, separated from that of the male sex? Does the male role define that of the female's? Here are some quotations from Sharoni's piece that I think suggest there is an existing bind that women have to men in the political world.
pg 184. ....The space available for women, at the height of the conflict, to mobilize politically and to explore new conceptions of femininity and gender roles depends to a great extent on the identities and roles of men in these conflicts and on the conceptions of masculinity that inform their personal and political struggles.
pg 200. But in order to maintain their place in Northern Ireland politics, women had to endure an overtly sexist working environment and accept a fairly conventional division of power and labour at the all-party talks.
pg 201. .....the meanings assigned to being a man or a woman in a particular context are not fixed or static but rather changing over time and in relation to particular political developments.