Monica McWilliams
Northern Ireland

Monica McWilliams is a founding member and representative of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. Elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, she represents South Belfast, which has a constituency of 60,000 people. Dr. McWilliams is also a professor of women's studies and social policy at the University of Ulster, where she introduced the first accredited access courses for women returning to education. She was awarded the doctor of humane letters from Lesley College, in Massachusetts, for her work on the impact of political conflict and domestic violence on women's lives in Northern Ireland. Her publications include several pieces relating to the Northern Ireland Peace process and two books on domestic violence. As a signatory of the Good Friday Agreement, she was awarded the National Democratic Institute Award and the John F. Kennedy Leadership and Courage Award. In 1999, she received the Frank Cousins Peace Award and Boston Immigration Center's Woman of the Year Award.

Dr. McWilliams' peace-building activities include:

• co-founding the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition to increase the representation of women in Northern Ireland's political process;
• playing an instrumental role in the multiparty negotiations that led to the Belfast Agreement and were central to the establishment of the Civic Forum and the Agreement's commitment to victims of violence in Northern Ireland; and
• participating in high-level discussions with representatives of the United States and South Africa.

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