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.
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.