State Feminism and Political Representation

This 2005 book offers an assessment of the impact of women's movements on public policy.

Joni Lovenduski (Edited by)

9780521617642, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 November 2005

336 pages, 28 tables
20.6 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.45 kg

'this volume is the product of a ten-year collaborative effort to assess the impact of state feminism on women's political representation … [it] is essential reading for students and scholars interested in issues of women's political representation in Europe …'. International Feminist Journal of Politics

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.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Social theory [JHBA], Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Feminism & feminist theory [JFFK]