Liberalism, Neutrality, and the Gendered Division of Labor

Liberalism, Neutrality, and the Gendered Division of Labor
Author: Gina Schouten
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2019-05-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0192542451

This book defends progressive political interventions to erode the gendered division of labor as legitimate exercises of coercive political power. The gendered division of labor is widely regarded as the linchpin of gender injustice. The process of gender equalization in domestic and paid labor allocations has stalled, and a growing number of scholars argue that, absent political intervention, further eroding of the gendered division of labor will not be forthcoming anytime soon. Certain political interventions could jumpstart the stalled gender revolution, but beyond their prospects for effectiveness, such interventions stand in need of another kind of justification. In a diverse, liberal state, reasonable citizens will disagree about what makes for a good life and a good society. Because a fundamental commitment of liberalism is to limit political intrusion into the lives of citizens and allow considerable space for those citizens to act on their own conceptions of the good, questions of legitimacy arise. Legitimacy concerns the constraints we must abide by as we seek collective political solutions to our shared social problems, given that we will disagree, reasonably, both about what constitutes a problem and about what costs we should be willing to incur to fix it. The interventions in question would effectively subsidize gender egalitarian lifestyles at a cost to those who prefer to maintain a traditional gendered division of labor. In a pluralistic, liberal society where many citizens reasonably resist the feminist agenda, can we legitimately use scarce public resources to finance coercive interventions to subsidize gender egalitarianism? This book argues that they can, and moreover, that they can even by the lights of political liberalism, a particularly demanding theory of liberal legitimacy.

States, Markets, Families

States, Markets, Families
Author: Julia S. O'Connor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 1999-01-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780521638814

The 1990s have seen dramatic restructuring of state social provision in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. This has occurred largely because of the rise of market liberalism, which challenges the role of the state. This important book examines the impact of changes in social policy regimes on gender roles and relations. Structured thematically and systematically comparative, it analyses three key policy areas: labor markets, income maintenance and reproductive rights. Largely driven by issues of equality, it considers the role of the state as a site for gender and sexual politics at a time when primacy is given to the market, developing an argument about social citizenship in the process. Eminent scholars in the field, Julia O'Connor, Ann Orloff and Sheila Shaver make a landmark contribution to debates about social policy and gender relations in this era of economic restructuring and deregulation.

Gender Inequality and Welfare States in Europe

Gender Inequality and Welfare States in Europe
Author: Mary Daly
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1788111265

Gender equality has been one of the defining projects of European welfarestates. It has proven an elusive goal, not just because of political opposition but also due to a lack of clarity in how to best frame equality and take account of family-related considerations. This wide-ranging book assembles the most pertinent literature and evidence to provide a critical understanding of how contemporary state policies engage with gender inequalities.

Social Reproduction

Social Reproduction
Author: Meg Luxton
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2006
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0773531033

Using a feminist political economy approach, contributors document the impact of current socio-economic policies on states, markets, households, and communities. Relying on impressive empirical research, they argue that women bear the costs of and responsibility for care-giving and show that the theoretical framework provided by feminist analyses of social reproduction not only corrects the gender-blindness of most economic theories but suggests an alternative that places care-giving at its centre. In this illuminating study, they challenge feminist scholars to re-engage with materialism and political economy to engage with feminism.

For Women, For Wales and For Liberalism

For Women, For Wales and For Liberalism
Author: Ursula Masson
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2010-02-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0708322549

This book explores the neglected history of women who were active in Liberal politics, campaigning for women's rights, the vote, and a full role for women in Welsh public life, at the end of the nineteenth century, and before the First World War. The over-arching argument of the book is that Welsh women's Liberal politics was distinctive, in its attempt to integrate an understanding of Liberalism which they shared with their English counterparts, and which included the aim of full equality for women, with a distinctively Welsh political agenda, and constructions of Welsh national identity. These constructions sometimes included a positive view of women in the nation, but in times of political crisis redefined gender on a more reactionary model.

Liberalism

Liberalism
Author: Michael Freeden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199670439

Michael Freeden explores the concept of liberalism, one of the longest-standing and central political theories and ideologies. Combining a variety of approaches, he distinguishes between liberalism as a political movement, as a system of ideas, and as a series of ethical and philosophical principles.

Sexual Politics

Sexual Politics
Author: Kate Millett
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2016-02-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231541724

A sensation upon its publication in 1970, Sexual Politics documents the subjugation of women in great literature and art. Kate Millett's analysis targets four revered authors—D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet—and builds a damning profile of literature's patriarchal myths and their extension into psychology, philosophy, and politics. Her eloquence and popular examples taught a generation to recognize inequities masquerading as nature and proved the value of feminist critique in all facets of life. This new edition features the scholar Catharine A. MacKinnon and the New Yorker correspondent Rebecca Mead on the importance of Millett's work to challenging the complacency that sidelines feminism.

Gender, the State, and Social Reproduction

Gender, the State, and Social Reproduction
Author: Kate Bezanson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0802090656

Many of the neo-liberal policies implemented in the mid to late 1990s in Ontario by Mike Harris's Progressive Conservative government have had major repercussions for the population of that province. In Gender, the State, and Social Reproduction, Kate Bezanson considers the implications of those policies for gender relations - that is, how women and men, families, and households have coped with these changes, and how the division of labour and standard of living within these households were affected. Bezanson also considers the implications of neo-liberalism more generally on the lives of people living under such regimes.

Poverty, Inequality and Social Work

Poverty, Inequality and Social Work
Author: Ian Cummins
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2018-01-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1447334809

A critical analysis of the domino effect of neoliberalism and austerity on social work. Applying theory including those of Bourdieu and Wacquant to practice, it argues that social work should return to a focus on relational and community approaches.