This book assesses how policies developed by the National Assembly for Wales are affecting gender inequalities and investigates whether they are having an impact on social justice for women in Wales. In 1999 the first elections to devolved governments took place in Scotland and Wales. In Wales this resulted in 40 per cent of Assembly Members being women. In 2003 this proportion increased to 50 per cent which makes the National Assembly for Wales ‘the first legislative body with equal numbers of men and women in the world’ (“The Guardian”, 3/5/03). This new gender balance of political representatives is a significant change in the gendering of political institutions and this, together with the creation of a new tier of government, has the potential to create new opportunities for the development of social policies which address gender and other social inequalities. Focusing on distinct policy domains, this book explores gender politics in a devolved Wales. Each chapter investigates a particular aspect of social policy, exploring the way it has developed since devolution and the extent to which considerations of gender and social justice for women are central to this development. The empirical chapters which form the core of the book are situated theoretically and politically by the first chapter which discusses how gender and social justice can be theorised and explores devolution and its relation to gender politics in Wales.

The prison has often been the focus for concerns about human rights violations, and campaigns aimed at achieving social justice, for those with an interest in the criminalisation of women. To reduce the number of women imprisoned, a range of policy initiatives have been developed to increase the use of community-based responses to women in conflict with the law. These initiatives have tended to operate alongside reforms to the prison estate and are often defined as ‘community punishment’, ‘community sanctions’ and ‘alternatives to imprisonment’. This book challenges the contention that improved regimes and provisions within the criminal justice system are capable of addressing human rights concerns and the needs of the criminalised woman. This book aims to provide a critical analysis of approaches and experiences of penal sanctions, human rights and social justice as enacted in different jurisdictions within and beyond the UK. Drawing on international knowledge and expertise, the contributors to this book challenge the efficacy of gender-responsive interventions by examining issues affecting women in the criminal justice system such as mental health, age, and ethnicity. Crucially, the book will engage with the paradox of implementing rights within a largely punishment-orientated system. This book will be of interest to those taking undergraduate and post-graduate courses that examine punishment, gender and justice, and which lend themselves to an international / comparative aspect such as criminal justice/criminology, (international) criminal justice courses; sociology as well as professional training for practitioners (criminal justice, social work, health) who work with women in the criminal justice system.

This comprehensive text provides an overview of the relationship between violence, gender, crime, and justice. It brings together theory with contemporary cases to enable the reader to understand key concepts, issues, and connections. Enlightening and accessible, the book examines the experiences and treatment of men and women both as victims and criminals.

The last two decades have seen big changes within a small nation; the distinctiveness of Wales, in terms of its political life and culture, has grown considerably in that time. This edited collection by a range of eminent Welsh writers, emerging academics and creative artists examines what is distinctive about Wales and Welshness in an interdisciplinary yet comprehensive manner. The core concepts of gender, class and identity are explored throughout the book, which presents twelve chapters in three distinct yet overlapping thematic sections: Wales, Welshness, Language and Identity, Education; Labour Markets and Gender in Wales; and Welsh Public Life, Social Policy, Class and Inequality. The chapters explore the role of men and women in Wales and of Wales itself as a nation, an economy, and a centre of partially devolved governance, raising questions related to equality, policy and progression. The collection also features photographs, graphic art and poetic verse that both represent and extend the central arguments of the book.

This book offers a unique understanding of what administrative justice means in Wales and for Wales, whilst also providing an expert and timely analysis of comparative developments in law and administration. It includes critical analysis of distinctly Welsh administrative laws and redress measures, whilst examining contemporary administrative justice issues across a range of common and civil law, European and international jurisdictions. Key issues include the roles of commissioners, administrative courts, tribunals and ombudsmen in devolved and federal nations, and evolving relationships between citizens and the state – especially in the context of localisation and austerity – and will be of interest to legal and public administration professionals at home and internationally.

Female activists around the globe have long used the political opportunities afforded by constitutional reform to further gender equality and women s participation in politics. This timely and accessible volume addresses the way in which changes introduced by devolved governance in Wales have transformed the role of women in contemporary Welsh politics and presented a new phase in the history of Welsh women s activism. Based on original interviews with participants as well as a range of secondary sources, "Women, Politics, and Constitutional Change" examines the innovations, background, and effects that have led the new Welsh legislature to the second-highest proportion of women representatives in all of Europe, and the pro-devolution rhetoric of inclusiveness that opened the way."

This work provides a review of gender and crime. Written by professional criminologists, it should be of interest not only to academics but to those concerned with gender questions. Topics covered include media representation, criminal women and criminal justice responses to violence against women.