The Greenfinch archive: Sharing servicewomen’s stories of the front line

Retelling servicewomen’s participation on the front line during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

In partnership with the Consolidated Regimental Museum for the Royal Irish Regiment in Belfast, this project co-produced a curated digitised exhibit to reveal the un-told history of servicewomen of the Ulster Defence Regiment on the ‘front line’ during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The project drew upon under-utilised archives to create a visual retelling of the history of women’s participation in this campaign.

Drawing on research by our School of Law and Politics, the story of servicewomen in Northern Ireland defies the myth that women have only recently been permitted to serve on the ‘front line’. Women were permitted to join the Ulster Defence Regiment1 (UDR) from 1973, becoming known as the ‘Greenfinches’. Military units operating in Northern Ireland identified a tactical need to use women as searchers, questioners and decoys from the outset of the campaign.

The servicewomen’s stories reveal a tension between need and narrative - women were put at personal risk by not arming them for ‘front line’ patrolling to maintain a gendered power dynamic that relied on women being viewed as non-combatants. Womens voices have been repeatedly marginalised from military campaign narratives and public histories. Their voices are important to reconceptualise the ‘front line’ as somewhere where women have been, where women are and where women can be.

A co-produced digital exhibit, featured items from the Greenfinch archive, was displayed at the Royal Irish Regiment virtual military gallery as part of a temporary exhibition at the Royal Ulster Rifles Museum in Belfast. The exhibit provided a cultural sounding board challenging deeply-nurtured assumptions about the gendered nature of war. Bringing the testimonies of previously unheard voices challenged the mainstream masculinised narrative of this campaign, and address the balance on the role of women in paramilitary organisations.

The project challenged the public to question the mainstream narrative of this conflict by presenting women’s voices to tell a forgotten story that places them on the ‘front line’. Members of the public were invited to engage with the stories of the Greenfinches to challenge misconceptions.

It is hoped that the project will open opportunities for future collaboration with partners in developing funding bids for an oral histories project with the Greenfinches.