Gendering Party Politics: Feminist Institutionalist Perspectives

Meryl Kenny (Editor), Elin Bjarnegard (Editor)

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

What can gender tell us about political parties? This book provides a powerful answer, setting out a more expansive view of who and what we study in party politics and where and how we study it. It illuminates the interaction between gender and political parties through a feminist institutionalist lens, outlining new theoretical, methodological, and empirical directions for party politics research. It further makes the case for why this matters, including beyond the academy, evaluating the opportunities for and obstacles to transforming political parties in the pursuit of gender equality and gender justice.

The book sets out a state-of-the-art of feminist institutionalist approach to the study of gender and political parties, evaluating theoretical and empirical trends across the field. It then draws on this common framework to systematically evaluate some of the core concepts of feminist institutionalist and party research - reformulating established concepts and introducing new ones. Subsequent contributions delve into innovative methods and empirical cases, with a global scope. The final section of the book critically evaluates the potential for change, exploring how parties might be transformed to promote greater inclusivity and highlighting the role of feminist academics as potential change actors. Together these contributions emphasize the wide-ranging applications of feminist institutionalist perspectives in understanding the complexities of gender dynamics within political parties. Each chapter not only stands alone, but also enriches and advances the ‘big questions’ of party politics scholarship around power, democracy and representation.

Concluding with a conversation between the editors and pioneering scholars Joni Lovenduski and Pippa Norris, this volume charts the progress to date and ways forward for gender and party research, making it an essential resource for scholars and practitioners alike.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 30 Oct 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • gender
  • political science
  • political parties
  • feminist institutionalism
  • comparative politics
  • institutions
  • institutional change
  • representation
  • participation
  • feminism

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gendering Party Politics: Feminist Institutionalist Perspectives'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this