The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality

The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality
Author: Emanuela Lombardo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1134031114

This book explores the discursive constructions of gender equality and the implications of these understandings in a broad range of policy fields. Using gender equality as a prime example, a number of internationally renowned scholars offer a new vocabulary to identify and study processes of the reduction, amplification, shifting or freezing of meaning. The main aim of the book is to understand the dynamics and to reflect on the consequences of such discursive politics in recent policy making on gender equality. It explores both the potential opportunities that are opened up for the promotion of equality through discursive politics, and the limitations they impose. Distinctive features of the volume include: chapters covering a range of case studies in Europe, the USA, and the Asia region, tackling contemporary political debates on equality new insights of relevance to public policy practices such as gender mainstreaming, with theorizing on intersecting inequalities The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality will be of interest to students and scholars, of political science, public policy, comparative politics, gender and women studies.

The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality

The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality
Author: Emanuela Lombardo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1134031122

Adopting a critical perspective, this book explores how the concept of gender equality is ‘stretched and bent’ in different ways according to the intervention of policy actors and assesses the consequences of the processes the policy-framing.

The Symbolic Representation of Gender

The Symbolic Representation of Gender
Author: Dr Emanuela Lombardo
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2014-08-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1472403258

What is symbolic representation? Since Hanna Pitkin’s seminal The Concept of Representation, the symbolic has been the least studied dimension of political representation. Innovatively adopting a discursive approach, this book - the first full-length treatment of symbolic representation - focuses on gender issues to tackle important questions such as: What are women and men symbols of, and how is gender constructed in policy discourse? It studies what functions symbolic representation fulfils in the construction of gender, what social roles get legitimized in policy discourse, and how this affects power constellations, ultimately revealing much about the relation between symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation. Emanuela Lombardo and Petra Meier draw on theories of symbolic representation and gender, as well as rich primary material about political debates on labour and care issues, partnership and reproductive rights, gender violence, and quotas. Using this original data, the authors show that reconsidering symbolic representation from a discursive perspective makes explicit issues of (in)equality embedded within particular constructions, as well as their consequences for political representation and gender equality. This important exploration raises relevant new questions regarding the representation of gender that form valuable contributions to the fields of political science, political theory, sociology, and gender studies.

The Europeanization of Gender Equality Policies

The Europeanization of Gender Equality Policies
Author: Emanuela Lombardo
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2011-11-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230355374

A discursive-sociological approach to the Europeanization of gender and other equality policies. Using largely unpublished empirical data covering twenty-nine European countries this book adopts a pluralistic perspective to explore the complex and often divergent gender and other equality policy outputs of Europeanization.

Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality

Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality
Author: Mieke Verloo
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 6155211396

This book aims to map the diversity of meanings of gender equality across Europe and reflects on the contested concept of gender equality. In its exploration of the diverse meanings of gender equality it not only takes into account the existence of different visions of gender equality, and the way in which different political and theoretical debates crosscut these visions, but also reflects upon the geographical contexts in which visions and debates over gender equality are located. The contextual locations where these visions and debates take place include the European Union and member states such as Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia, Greece, and Spain. In all of these settings, the different meanings of gender equality are explored comparatively in relation to the issues of family policies, domestic violence, and gender inequality in politics, while specific national contexts discuss the issues of prostitution (Austria, Slovenia), migration (the Netherlands), homosexual rights (Spain), and antidiscrimination (Hungary). The multiple meanings of gender equality are studied through Critical Frame Analysis, a methodology that builds on social movement theory and that was refined further with elements of gender and political theory within the context of the MAGEEQ research project

Mainstreaming Politics

Mainstreaming Politics
Author: Carol Lee Bacchi
Publisher: University of Adelaide Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2010
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0980672384

This book offers an innovative rethinking of policy approaches to 'gender equality' and of the process of social change. It brings several new chapters together with a series of previously published articles to reflect on these topics. A particular focus is gender mainstreaming, a relatively recent development in equality policy in many industrialised and some industrialising countries, as well as in large international organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organization. The book draws upon poststructuralist organisation and policy theory to argue that it is impossible to 'script' reform initiatives such as gender mainstreaming. As an alternative it recommends thinking about such policy developments as fields of contestation, shaped by on-the-ground political deliberations and practices, including the discursive practices that produce specific ways of understanding the 'problem' of 'gender inequality'. In addition to the new chapters the editors Bacchi and Eveline produce brief introductions for each chapter, tracing the development of their ideas over four years. Through these commentaries the book provides exciting insights into the complex processes of collaboration and theory generation. Mainstreaming Politics is a rich resource for both practitioners in the field and for theorists. In particular it will appeal to those interested in public policy, public administration, organisation studies, sociology, comparative politics and international studies.

Gender in Georgia

Gender in Georgia
Author: Maia Barkaia
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2017-10-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785336762

As Georgia seeks to reinvent itself as a nation-state in the post-Soviet period, Georgian women are maneuvering, adjusting, resisting and transforming the new economic, social and political order. In Gender in Georgia, editors Maia Barkaia and Alisse Waterston bring together an international group of feminist scholars to explore the socio-political and cultural conditions that have shaped gender dynamics in Georgia from the late 19th century to the present. In doing so, they provide the first-ever woman-centered collection of research on Georgia, offering a feminist critique of power in its many manifestations, and an assessment of women’s political agency in Georgia.

Double-Edged Politics on Women’s Rights in the MENA Region

Double-Edged Politics on Women’s Rights in the MENA Region
Author: Hanane Darhour
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-10-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030277356

While the Arab Uprisings presented new opportunities for the empowerment of women, the sidelining of women remains a constant risk in the post-revolutionist MENA countries. Changes in the position of women are crucial to the reconfiguration of state-society relations and to the discussions between Islamist and secular trends. Theoretically framed and based on new empirical data, this edited volume explores women’s activism and political representation as well as discursive changes, with a particular focus on secular and Islamic feminism, and changes in popular opinions on women’s position in society. While the contributors express optimistic as well as more pessimistic views for the future, they agree that this is a period of uncertainty for women in the region, and that support by ruling elites towards women’s rights remains ambiguous and double-edged.

Discourse, Politics and Women as Global Leaders

Discourse, Politics and Women as Global Leaders
Author: John Wilson
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2015-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027267979

Discourse, Politics and Women as Global Leaders focuses on the discourse practices of women in global political leadership. It provides a series of discursive studies of women in positions of political leadership. ‘Political leadership’ is defined as achieving a senior position within a political organization and will often indicate a senior role in government or opposition. The volume draws on a diverse collection of studies from across the globe, reflecting a variety of cultures and distinct polities. The primary aim is to consider in what way(s) discursive practice underpins, reflects, or is appropriated in terms of women’s political success and achievements within politics. The chapters employ differing theoretical approaches all bound by the discursive insights they provide, and in terms of their contribution to understanding the role of language and discourse in the construction of gendered identities within political contexts.

Gender, UN Peacebuilding, and the Politics of Space

Gender, UN Peacebuilding, and the Politics of Space
Author: Laura J. Shepherd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2017-08-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0190699434

The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (UNPBC) was established in December 2005 to develop outlines of best practice in post-conflict reconstruction, and to secure the political and material resources necessary to assist states in transition from conflict to peacetime. Currently, the organization is involved in reconstruction and peacebuilding activities in six countries. Yet, a 2010 review by permanent representatives to the United Nations found that the hopes of the UN peacebuilding architecture "despite committed and dedicated efforts...ha[d] yet to be realized." Two of these hopes relate to gender and power, specifically that peacebuilding efforts integrate a "gender perspective" and that the Commission consult with civil society, NGOs, and women's organizations. This book is the first to offer an extensive and dedicated analysis of the activities of the UN Peacebuilding Commission with regard to both gender politics, broadly conceived, and the gendered dynamics of civil society participation in peacebuilding activities. Laura J. Shepherd draws upon original fieldwork that she conducted at the UN to argue that the gendered and spatial politics of peacebuilding not only feminizes civil society organizations, but also perpetuates hierarchies that privilege the international over the domestic realms. The book argues that the dominant representations of women, gender, and civil society in UN peacebuilding discourse produce spatial hierarchies that paradoxically undermine the contemporary emphasis on "bottom-up" governance of peacebuilding activities.