Gender, Politics and the State (Hardcover)

Gender, politics and the state has been influenced by the interaction between feminism and political science. This volume provides an overview of this field, reflecting its empirical scope and the accompanying theoretical development and debate. The first three essays focus primarily on conceptual and theoretical issues: the meaning of "gender"; the state's role in the construction of gender within the public and private sphere; and the political representation of gender differences within liberal democracy. The remaining six provide analyses of more concrete issues of state policy and participation in differing national political contexts: abortion politics in Ireland; the local politics of prostitution in Britain; the impact on women's political participation of economic change in China, Latin America and political change in Russia; and the gender impact of state programmes of land reform.