This title was first published in 2000. Drawn from an international research project, this study provides evidence of efforts to make law and policy-making truly inclusive, and discusses whether success or failure depends on the nature of the procedure, or the legal and social context. The book contains six case studies detailing national practice in promoting equality between the sexes and a series of general chapters which evaluate the effectiveness of individual equality stratgies and the factors which contribute to their success or failure. The contributors analyze the contribution of the European Union in promoting gender equality in Europe, and particular emphasis is placed on gender mainstreaming and how this strategy might be developed.
This title was first published in 2000: The 1990s have been heralded as the 'age of women' based on the facts that, globally, more women are benefiting from formal education and are in paid employment in greater numbers than ever. As such, the possibility that an age of post-feminism has been reached, in which battles for women’s basic rights have largely been won, is implied. This book, based on research across academic disciplines, challenges such claims. Using women and work as the basis analysis, the authors consider whether such things as flexible working, equal opportunities initiatives and even contemporary conceptions of citizenship are universally beneficial to women. The book presents research ranging from issues of immigrant sex-workers in Japan to the implementation of EU equality policies and raises the ironic question that, as the global economy increasingly depends on women, could a growing but uneasy alliance be developing between capitalism and feminism?
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.
This book gives a special emphasis to state-of-the-art descriptions of approaches, methods, initiatives, and projects from universities, stakeholders, organizations, and civil society across the world, regarding cross-cutting issues in sustainable development. There is a perceived need for mobilizing the various stakeholders when attempting to promote sustainability in higher education and to promote best practices, which may inspire further initiatives. But despite this need, there are a few publications handling this matter in a coherent way. In order to meet the pressing need for publications which may document and disseminate examples of best practice on sustainable development at university level, the “Handbook of Best Practices in Sustainable Development at University Level” is being published. This book is produced by the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR), through the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and contains inputs from authors across all geographical regions. The book also discusses examples of initiatives coordinated by universities but involving civil society, the private sector, and public sector (including local, national, and intergovernmental bodies). In particular, it describes practical experiences, partnerships, networks, and training schemes for building capacity aimed at fostering the cause of sustainable development at institutions of higher education. Thanks to its design and the contributions by experts from various areas, it provides a welcome contribution to the literature on sustainable development, and it may inspire further works in this field.
Addressing aspects of women's experience such as the public spheres of elective politics, public policy-making & the labour market, this book offers an up-to-date critical assessment of gender in Spain.
The expansion of married women's property rights was a main achievement of the first wave of feminism in Latin America. As Carmen Diana Deeere and Magdalena Leon reveal, however, the disjuncture between rights and actual ownership remains vast. This is particularly true in rural areas, where the distribution of land between men and women is highly unequal. In their pioneering, twelve-country comparative study, the authors argue that property ownership is directly related to womenÆs bargaining power within the household and community, point out changes resulting from recent gender-progressive legislation, and identify additional areas for future reform, including inheritance rights of wives.
This critical analysis of the role of the state, diversity of women's movements and the social and political position of indigenous peoples of Latin America provides an illuminating discussion of the ways in which the state defines women's interest, and constructs women's citizenship.
