Editing Mary McAleese (section)

==Early career==
In 1975, having spent a year as a practising barrister in Belfast, she was appointed [[Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology]] in Trinity College Dublin,<ref name="Top scholar Emma proves she's a chip off the old block">{{cite news|first=Katherine|last=Donnelly|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/top-scholar-emma--proves-shes-a-chip-off-the-old-block-1735787.html|title=Top scholar Emma proves she's a chip off the old block|date=12 May 2009|access-date=21 December 2009|work=[[Irish Independent]]|archive-date=15 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515131829/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/top-scholar-emma--proves-shes-a-chip-off-the-old-block-1735787.html|url-status=live}}</ref> succeeding [[Mary Robinson]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1680695.stm |title=Europe &#124; Mary Robinson: Human rights champion |work=[[BBC News]] |date=18 March 2002 |access-date=28 August 2010 |first=Mark |last=Snelling |archive-date=7 October 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031007201602/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1680695.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in 1975, McAleese chaired a meeting at [[Liberty Hall]] that advocated a woman's [[right to choose]] and was quoted as saying that "I would see the failure to provide abortion as a human rights issue". She later claimed that she was given to understand that the nature of the meeting was to be a discussion among all sides and opinions.<ref>Ruth Riddick, The Right to Choose: Questions of Feminist Morality (Dublin 1990) pages 4–9</ref>

During the same decade, she was a legal advisor to and a founding member of the [[Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform]]. She left this position in 1979, to join [[RTÉ]] as a journalist and presenter, during one period as a reporter and presenter for their ''Frontline'' replaced by ''Today Tonight'' in 1980 programme. However, in RTÉ, she and [[Alex White (Irish politician)|Alex White]] (then a TV producer and later a Labour Party TD) were attacked and criticised by a group led by [[Eoghan Harris]], associated with the [[Workers' Party (Ireland)|Workers' Party]], over what they perceived as her bias towards republican groups in the North. McAleese was critical of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]], but believed it was important to hear their side of the story; she opposed the Harris faction's support for [[Censorship in the Republic of Ireland#The Troubles: RTÉ and Section 31 of the Broadcasting Authority Act|Section 31]], which she believed was an attack on free speech.<ref name="HanleyMillar2009">{{cite book|last1=Hanley|first1=Brian|last2=Millar|first2=Scott|title=The lost revolution: the story of the official IRA and the workers' party|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6814880.ece|access-date=16 January 2011|date=26 March 2009|publisher=Penguin Ireland|isbn=978-1-84488-120-8|archive-date=1 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301232732/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6814880.ece|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1981, she returned to the Reid Professorship, but continued to work part-time for RTÉ for a further four years.<ref name=":0" /> In 1987, she returned to Queen's University, to become Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. She stood, unsuccessfully, as a [[Fianna Fáil]] candidate in the [[Dublin South-East (Dáil constituency)|Dublin South-East]] constituency at the [[1987 Irish general election|1987 general election]], receiving 2,243 votes (5.9%).{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

McAleese has a long-standing involvement in ecumenism and anti-sectarianism. She co-chaired the working party on sectarianism set up by the Irish Inter-Church Meeting in 1991 and its report (1993) was described by Professor Marianne Elliot as "the most notable" work of the Inter-Church Meetings. McAleese was the author and presenter of a successful [[BBC Radio Ulster]] series called "The Protestant Mind" which encouraged the divided communities in Northern Ireland to try to stand in each other's shoes.  McAleese was a member of the Catholic Church Episcopal Delegation to the New Ireland Forum in 1984, and a member of the Catholic Church delegation to the Northern Ireland Commission on Contentious Parades in 1996. She was also a delegate to the 1995 [[White House]] Conference on Trade and Investment in Ireland and to the subsequent [[Pittsburgh]] Conference in 1996. She became the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast.<ref name="Irishwomen Find Niche (And It's Not in Kitchen)"/> Prior to becoming president in 1997, McAleese had also held the following positions: [[Channel 4|Channel 4 Television]], Director, [[Northern Ireland Electricity]], Director, Royal Group of Hospitals Trust and Founding member of the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas.<ref name=aras/>

McAleese is a member of the [[Council of Women World Leaders]], an international network of current and former women Presidents and Prime Ministers, whose mission is to mobilise the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwwl.org/members.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710015240/http://www.cwwl.org/members.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 July 2009 |title=Council Members |access-date=12 December 2009 |publisher=[[Council of Women World Leaders]] }}</ref>