Female politicians Reopen Washington

Republican senator Susan Collins sits with President Barack Obama of the Democratic Party 

The Telegraph in London and the New York Times have both reported that it was women Senators in the United States who helped to broker a deal that reopened Washington and put Americans back to work. Led by the well-known moderate Republican senator Susan Collins, women legislators worked to find partners on the Democrat side of the partisan divide who wanted to work together. Moving forward through bipartisanship, the women were then able to drag their male colleagues into forward action. It was the women who showed good temperament, judgement and a concern for the people by being willing to reach across the isle.

This positive and conciliatory lawmaking was characterised by the pleadings of Senator Lisa Murkoski who overcame the Tea Party to win re-election in 2010. She urged a coming together in the interest of the people. She said in the US Senate:

"I think we have a responsibility here. We have a responsibility to govern and we're not doing that right now... It's not just about the next election: it's about making sure that those people we work for are not stressing, are not anxious about what tomorrow is going to bring for them... Nobody is winning in this... Everybody is losing in this when we cannot come together."

We need the same in Northern Ireland. More women in government. More women in business. More women who will govern on a bipartisan, workmanly basis, and not along strictly partisan-sectarian lines. Politicians have a responsibility not just to govern for Portestants and unionists, or for Catholics and nationalists, but for everyone in Northern Ireland.