State Feminism and Political Representation


Book Description

How can women maximise their political influence? Does state feminism enhance the political representation of women? Should feminism be established in state institutions to treat women's concerns? Written by experts in the field, this 2005 book uses an innovative model of political influence to construct answers to these and other questions in the long-running debate over the political representation of women. The book assesses how states respond to women's demands for political representation both in terms of their inclusion as actors and the consideration of their interests in the decision making process. Debates on the issue vary from country to country, depending on institutional structures, women's movements and other factors, and this book offered the first comparative account of the subject. The authors analyse eleven democracies in Europe and North America and present comprehensive research from the 1960s to the present.




The Politics of State Feminism


Book Description

Addressing essential questions of women's movement activism and political change in Western democracies.




Gender, Politics and the State


Book Description

Over the last two decades our understanding of the relationship of gender, politics and the state has been transformed almost beyond recognition by the mutual interrogation of feminism and political science. This volume provides an overview of this dynamic and growing field, which reflects both its expanding empirical scope and the accompanying theoretical development and debate. The first three essays focus primarily on conceptual and theoretical issues: the meaning of 'gender'; the state's role in the construction of gender within the public and private sphere; and the political representation of gender differences within liberal democracy. The remaining six provide analyses of more concrete issues of state policy and participation in differeing national political contexts: abortion politics in Ireland; the local politics of prostitution in Britain, the impact on women's political participation of economic change in China, Latin America and political change in Russia, and the gender impact of state programmes of land reform.




Politics, Gender, and Concepts


Book Description

A critique of concepts has been central to feminist scholarship since its inception. However, while gender scholars have identified the analytical gaps in existing social science concepts, few have systematically mapped out a gendered approach to issues in political analysis and theory development. This volume addresses this important gap in the literature by exploring the methodology of concept construction and critique, which is a crucial step to disciplined empirical analysis, research design, causal explanations, and testing hypotheses. Leading gender and politics scholars use a common framework to discuss methodological issues in some of the core concepts of feminist research in political science, including representation, democracy, welfare state governance, and political participation. This is an invaluable work for researchers and students in women's studies and political science.




State Feminism, Women's Movements, and Job Training


Book Description

Drawing from the work of internationally renowned scholars from the Research Network on Gender, Politics and the State (RNGS), this study offers in-depth analysis of the relationship between state feminism, women's movements and public policy and places them within a comparative theoretical framework. Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Finland, Austria, Belgium, Canada, and the U.S. are all discussed individually.




Women, Gender, and Politics


Book Description

Six areas of research of the subjects of women, gender and politics are debated: social movements, political parties, elections, political representation, public policy, and the state.




Changing State Feminism


Book Description

Most Western democracies established women's policy agencies to improve the status of women by the 1990s. One of the book's key questions is how have women's policy agencies been able to develop, maintain or enhance their roles in the transformed political context and how have women's movements adapted to change in twelve states.




Gender, Conservatism and Political Representation


Book Description

Can Conservatives represent women? Descriptively of course, they do. Conservative parties and organisations are increasingly feminised; conservative women sit in many of the world’s parliaments; a few women have led conservative parties; and there are, and have been, Conservative Prime Ministers. But whether these women actually stand for women, act for women and re-gender representation is likely to invite greater contestation. Contributors to this edited collection address head-on the puzzle of conservative women who engage in gendered political representation but do so within a conservative setting. Individual chapters examine women’s participation as conservative movement and party members, supporters, candidates, leaders, legislators and ministers – in countries ranging from Europe, the US, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Turkey and Morocco. Assessment is made of the nature of their representational contribution, and the relationship they have with conservative women’s views in society.




Welfare State and Woman Power


Book Description

During the past decade, Scandinavian women have made significant advances in terms of political power and are beginning to make their presence felt in most areas of welfare state policy. The essays in this book analyze some of the factors which have facilitated women's entry into the public sphere, their participation in political movements and corporate politics, and the placement of women's issues onto the political agenda.




The Politics of Third Wave Feminisms


Book Description

The past twenty years have witnessed a renewal of interest in feminist activism on both sides of the Atlantic. In part this has been a response to neoliberal and neoconservative attacks, both implicit and explicit, on the gains made by feminists during the 1960s and 70s. This study adds a comparative dimension to the ongoing analysis of feminism and feminist activism by mapping, analysing and theorising third wave feminisms in the US and Britain. A key addition to Gender and Politics literature, it explores third wave feminisms by situating them within a specific political context, neoliberalism, and in relation to feminist theories of intersectionality, both of which present radical opportunities and practical challenges for feminism and the feminist movement. Elizabeth Evans is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on gender and politics, including engagement with formal processes and political activism. She has published widely on aspects of feminism, gender and politics, and her previous book, Gender and the Liberal Democrats, was published in 2011.