Editing Ulster Defence Association (section)

=== Women's units ===
The UDA had several women's units, which were independent of each other.<ref name="taylor">Taylor, p.136</ref><ref name="mcevoy12">McEvoy, p.12</ref> Although they occasionally helped staff roadblocks, the women's units were typically involved in local community work and responsible for the assembly and delivery of food parcels to UDA prisoners. This was a source of pride for the UDA.<ref name="mcevoy16">"Women Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland: Duty, Agency and Empowerment – A Report from the Field". ''All Academic Research''. Sandra McEvoy. 2008. p.16</ref> The first women's unit was founded on the [[Shankill Road]] by [[Wendy Millar|Wendy "Bucket" Millar]], whose sons Herbie and James "Sham" Millar would later become prominent UDA members.<ref name="heraldwilson">{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Iain |title=Plea for calm as UDA faction heads south; The 40 Loyalists forced out of Belfast for Scotland have decided it is time to move on |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23527846.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105214415/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23527846.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2013 |publisher=The Herald  |access-date=14 May 2012 |date=14 February 2012|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The UDA women's department was headed by Jean Moore, who also came from the Shankill Road. She had also served as the president of the women's auxiliary of the [[Loyalist Association of Workers]]. Her brother Ingram "Jock" Beckett, one of the UDA's founding members, had been killed in March 1972 by a rival UDA faction in an internal dispute.<ref name="dillon232">Dillon, Martin; Lehane, Denis (1973). ''Political murder in Northern Ireland''. Penguin. p.232</ref> Moore was succeeded by [[Hester Dunn]] of east Belfast, who also ran the public relations and administration section at the UDA headquarters.<ref name="wood94">Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.94</ref> Wendy Millar's Shankill Road group was a particularly active women's unit, and another was based in [[Sandy Row]], south Belfast, a traditional UDA stronghold. The latter was commanded by Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas.<ref name="kiely108">Kiely, David M. (2005). ''Deadlier Than the Male: Ireland's Female Killers''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p.108 {{ISBN|0717138941}}</ref> Her teenaged daughter, Elizabeth was one of the members.<ref name="life"/>

The Sandy Row women's UDA unit was disbanded after it carried out a vicious "romper room" punishment beating on 24 July 1974 which left 32-year-old [[Anne Ogilby killing|Ann Ogilby]] dead. The body of Ogilby, a Protestant single mother who had an affair with the husband of one of the unit's members, was found in a ditch five days later.<ref name="simpson32">Simpson, Alan (1999). ''Murder Madness: true crimes of the Troubles''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p. 32 {{ISBN|978-0-7171-2903-4}}</ref> The day of the fatal beating Ogilby was abducted and forced upstairs to the first floor of a disused bakery in Sandy Row that had been converted into a UDA club. Two teenage girls, Henrietta Cowan and Christine Smith,<ref name="simpson38">Simpson, p.38</ref> acting under Elizabeth Douglas' orders to give Ogilby a "good rompering",<ref name="kiely111"/> punched, kicked, then battered her to death with bricks and sticks; the autopsy later revealed that Ogilby had suffered 24 blows to the head and body. The killing, which was carried out within earshot of Ogilby's six-year-old daughter, caused widespread revulsion throughout Northern Ireland and was condemned by the UDA prisoners serving inside the [[Maze Prison]]. None of the other UDA women's units had consented to or been aware of the fatal punishment beating until it was reported in the news.<ref name="mcevoy12"/> Douglas, Cowan, and Smith were convicted of the murder and sentenced to imprisonment at Armagh Women's Jail. Seven other members of the women's unit and a UDA man were also convicted for their part in the murder.<ref name="life">[http://www.theregionalpressawards.org.uk/userfiles/files/entries-00099-02876.pdf "I heard mum beg for mercy": ''Sunday Life''. Ciaran Barnes. 7 February 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426072323/http://www.theregionalpressawards.org.uk/userfiles/files/entries-00099-02876.pdf |date=26 April 2012 }} Retrieved 28 December 2011</ref><ref name="kiely111">Kiely, David M. (2005). ''Deadlier Than the Male: Ireland's Female Killers''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p.111 {{ISBN|0717138941}}</ref> The UDA "romper rooms", named after [[Romper Room|the children's television programme]], were places where victims were beaten and tortured prior to being killed. This was known as a "rompering". The "romper rooms" were normally located in disused buildings, lock-up garages, warehouses, and rooms above pubs and drinking clubs.<ref name="nelson126">Nelson, pp.126, 146</ref> The use of the "romper rooms" was a more common practice among male members of the UDA than their female counterparts.<ref name="mcevoy12"/>