This book contains three comparative case studies to show how gender issues are dealt with in the political structures of the Dominican Republic, Romania and South Africa. These countries were chosen because they are in the process of development and structural reform, with the strong involvement of the international community. The case studies examine two issues that are common to all three countries (violence against women and reproductive health) and one issue specific to each country.

Democracy is the central political issue of our age, yet debates over its nature and goals rarely engage with feminist concerns. Now that women have the right to vote, they are thought to present no special problems of their own. But despite the seemingly gender-neutral categories of individual or citizen, democratic theory and practice continues to privilege the male. This book reconsiders dominant strands in democratic thinking - focusing on liberal democracy, participatory democracy, and twentieth century versions of civic republicanism - and approaches these from a feminist perspective. Anne Phillips explores the under-representation of women in politics, the crucial relationship between public and private spheres, and the lessons of the contemporary women's movement as an experience in participatory democracy.

Christina Kelley Gilmartin rewrites the history of gender politics in the 1920s with this compelling assessment of the impact of feminist ideals on the Chinese Communist Party during its formative years. For the first time, Gilmartin reveals the extent to which revolutionaries in the 1920s were committed to women's emancipation and the radical political efforts that were made to overcome women's subordination and to transform gender relations. Women activists whose experiences and achievements have been previously ignored are brought to life in this study, which illustrates how the Party functioned not only as a political organization but as a subculture for women as well. We learn about the intersection of the personal and political lives of male communists and how this affected their beliefs about women's emancipation. Gilmartin depicts with thorough and incisive scholarship how the Party formulated an ideological challenge to traditional gender relations while it also preserved aspects of those relationships in its organization.

Using empirical material from eight case studies in East Central Europe and Latin America as well as South Africa, this book explores the gendered constraints and opportunities provided by processes of democratization.

What has been the impact of transitions to democracy on gender relations? What roles have women's mobilizations played in processes of democratization? In a new and over-arching thematic analysis, Engendering Transitions answers these questions by comparing the transitions from state socialism and authoritarianism that took place as part of the 'third wave' of democratization that swept the world from the mid 1970s onwards. Using empirical material drawn from eight case study countries in East Central Europe and Latin America as well as South Africa, Georgina Waylen explores the gendered constraints and opportunities provided by processes of democratization and economic restructuring. This book uses a sophisticated analytical framework that brings together the analysis of key actors and institutions and shows that, under certain conditions, transitions to democracy can result in some positive gender outcomes such as improvements in women's political representation and more 'gender sensitive' policy in areas such as domestic violence. Georgina Waylen argues that women's mobilization during transitions is no guarantee of success and change is easier to achieve in some areas than others. Understanding the roles that can be played by organized women's movements, key actors and the wider political environment is crucial in helping us to explain why these gender outcomes vary in different contexts. This book addresses important debates within the study of both comparative politics and gender and politics and substantially improves our understanding of the ways in which transitions to democracy are gendered.

This volume assesses one of the most important developments in contemporary Latin American women's movements: the engagement with rights-based discourses. Organised women have played a central role in the continued struggle for democracy in the region and with it gender justice. The foregrounding of human rights, and within them the recognition of women's rights, has offered women a strategic advantage in pursuing their goals of an inclusive citizenship. The country-based chapters analyse specific bodies of rights: rights and representation, domestic violence, labour rights, reproductive rights, legal advocacy, socio-economic rights, rights and ethnicity, and rights, the state and autonomy.

Engendering Social Policy brings new and fresh perspectives to the question of how social policy constructs gendered social relations. With the restructuring of welfare firmly back on the political agenda, in the context of a reassertion that traditional families are the backbone of society, this book raises important issues for students, academics and practitioners grappling with social policy issues at the end of the millennium. Articles in the collection draw on a diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives engaging with issues that have vexed feminist analysts and activists over more than two decades. The collection explores how social policy constructs gendered relations, the difference/equality debate, representations and discourses of gender in social policy, the tensions and issues associated with restructuring domestic relations, and feminist alternatives to mainstream social policy solutions. The book adopts a comparative and international perspective taking on board the importance of global changes as well as illustrating its argument with practices and research from a number of countries. This book is essential reading for those interested in seriously addressing questions of gender and social policy in an international framework.