Gendering Government

Feminists, like other political actors, cannot avoid the state. Whether they want equal pay, anti-domestic violence laws, refugee or childcare centres, they must engage with state institutions. What determines the nature and extent of this involvement? Why are some feminists more willing to engage with some institutions, while others are not?

Gendering Government seeks to answer these questions through a comparison of feminist engagement with political institutions in Australia and Canada. Chappell considers what effect political institutions have had on shaping feminist claims, and in turn, to what extent these claims shape the nature of these institutions. She adds a new dimension to our understanding of the relationship between gender interests and government, showing how the interaction is dynamic and mutually defining. She further extends existing comparative studies in the field of women and politics by examining the full range of such institutions, including the electoral, parliamentary, legal/constitutional, and bureaucratic arenas.

Louise Chappell is a lecturer at the School of Economics and Political Science, University of Sydney, Australia.

She offers analysis of the formation of late twentieth century feminist politics, or electoral politics, bureaucracies, courts, federal institutions, and NGOs. Her claim that this is the first work to offer this level of analysis is a strong one: she considers a range of institutions and time frames for both countries. It is a rich and full picture. --- An important contribution to feminist political science and will be of interest to the discipline generally ... I especially admire its clear, jargon-free style of writing, a pleasure to read.