State Feminism and Political Representation

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 11/24/2005
EAN 9780521852227, ISBN10: 0521852226

Hardcover, 336 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

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.

1. Introduction
2. Gendering political representation
debates and controversies in Austria Regina Köpl
3. The Belgian paradox
inclusion and exclusion of gender issues Petra Meier
4. A politics for presence. State feminism, women's movements and political representation in Finland Anne Maria Holli and Johanna Kantola
5. Gendering the Republican system
debates on women's political representation in France Claudie Baudino
6. WPAs and political representation in Germany Lynn Kamenitsa and Brigitte Geissel
7. Gendering the debate on political representation in Italy
a difficult challenge Marila Guadagnini
8. High tides in a low country gendering political representation in the Netherlands Jantine Oldersma
9. The women's movement, gender equality agencies, and central-state debates on political representation in Spain (1983–2003) Celia Valiente
10. Party feminism, state feminism and women's representation in Sweden Diane Sainsbury
11. Party government and women's representation debates
the UK Joni Lovenduski
12. Women's policy agencies, the women's movement, and representation in the US Janine A. Parry
13. Conclusions
state feminism and political representation
Appendix 1. Tables of women's representation in eleven countries
Appendix 2. The RNGS model.