WomenÔÇÖs Rights in Democratizing States
Cambridge University Press, 1/20/2011
EAN 9781107001916, ISBN10: 1107001919
Hardcover, 306 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
This study offers an explanation for why advances in women's rights rarely occur in democratizing states. Drawing on deliberative theory, Denise Walsh argues that the leading institutions in the public sphere are highly gendered, meaning women's ability to shape the content of public debate and put pressure on the state to advance their rights is limited. She tests this claim by measuring the openness and inclusiveness of debate conditions in the public sphere during select time periods in Poland, Chile and South Africa. Through a series of structured, focused comparisons, the book confirms the importance of just debate for securing gender justice. The comparisons also reveal that counter publics in the leading institutions in the public sphere are crucial for expanding debate conditions. The book concludes with an analysis of counter publics and suggests an active role for the state in the public sphere.
Part I. Just Debate
1. Democratization and just debate
2. Just debate in the public sphere
3. Probing and testing just debate
Part II. Just Debate in Democratizing States
4. Just debate denied
socialist and democratizing Poland
5. Just debate diverges
regime breakdown in Chile and South Africa
6. Just debate prevails
the liberal moment in South Africa
7. Just debate declines
consolidation in South Africa
Part III. Gender Justice
8. Pursuing just debate.